


Tick Tick Boom

by NoDecaff4Me



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Felicity has a Nemesis, Fluff and Angst, My First Smut, Season/Series 02, Sleepy Cuddles, Thelicity, olicity - Freeform, so that happened
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-06
Updated: 2017-06-29
Packaged: 2018-05-05 06:40:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 44,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5365172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoDecaff4Me/pseuds/NoDecaff4Me
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This story is loosely based on S02, starting with the appearance of the Clock King. </p><p>Only this time, Tockman is not just after the money, but also after Felicity. Someone hired him to go after her.</p><p>How will she and her team handle this new threat?<br/>And the even bigger question; who is after her and why?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys. This is a work in progress and also my first attempt at writing a fic - so please bear with me if you liked what you read so far...   
> Also Engish isn't my native language. I'm Swiss... Thanks for understanding.

_                                                                  _

 

_It didn’t take her a lot of time or energy to connect the dots. She was a 100% certain that this little blond confounder was working for the Arrow and this meant that by getting his attention, she’d surely be getting hers. And what better way to draw her out then by a man with a skill set matching hers. It would certainly rattle the other woman enough to make a mistake and she could finally get rid of this little bug._

\----------------------------------------------------------------------

 

“He is piggybacking off my hack. It’s a trap! He is trying to hack our network!” she yelled angrily.

“I’m not trying. I am. Where are you? Are you home? Are you safe? Somewhere you think you’re safe? Somewhere without windows for anyone to creep through? Underground perhaps? You think no one can get to you? You think no one can touch you in the safety of your hidey hole. But I can and I will, Felicity Smoak.”

With these words the lights went out and every single piece of hardware, the whole server equipment, seemed to catch fire. Sparks flew and countless little explosions echoed through the basement. Her system had just committed suicide.

She stood in the middle of the foundry, all was dark around her except the emergency exit sign on top of the stairs. She didn’t dare move. She pulled her phone out of her purse and answered it, but before she could say anything she heard a loud voice on the other end of the line “Felicity?! What happened? Are you alright?” before she could answer, she heard the door upstairs open. In an exasperated tone she said “no need to call me when you’re already upstairs, you know.” She could hear his voice from a distance through the phone calling her name as she turned her head towards the stairs. She froze on the spot. The person standing at the top of the staircase wasn’t Oliver.

Oliver held his phone in a tight grip calling out for her, but all he could hear was a distant rumble, muffled words and then he heard her screaming just before the line went dead.

“We need to move, NOW!” he yelled at Sara and without any explanation he got on his bike heading for Verdant as fast as he could, not giving a damn about speeding limits or any other traffic law for that matter.

Sara was barely able to keep up with him. He jumped off his ride the second he arrived at the back alley at Verdant’s entering the building through the side entrance. His eyes widened in shock as he found Diggle lying on the ground. Not seeing any indication bullet holes or other injuries he checked his pulse point. He was just unconscious, thank god.

Looking up he gasped. The door to the basement was wide ajar. He called out to Sara to stay with Diggle and ran down the stairs to the basement. His eyes slowly adjusting to the dim light he looked around and saw a body of a man lying on the floor.

“Felicity?!” he called out into the dark space. Nothing. He tried yelling this time “FELICITY!!?!”

Panic slowly crawled up his spine. A short moment later he could hear a door hinge creak behind him. He turned around immediately with an arrow at the ready pointing at the bathroom door, but dropped it the second he saw her standing there. With three long strides he was standing in front of her cradling her head in the palms of his hands making her look at him. Her eyes closed at the contact of skin. “Are you ok?” he asked with a warm comforting voice. “Are you hurt?” stepping back so he could scan her for injuries. Her lip was bleeding and swollen, there was a cut on her left cheek, and the surrounding area was turning purple. That asshole hurt her and he was going to pay for that.

But before he could act on this thought he heard two pairs of feet running down the stairway. “Ollie? Is Felicity ok? Dig’s with me.” Sara said. Felicity took his hands in to hers to loosen his hold on her face and stepped to the side to look at the two other people in the room.

“Is he dead? Did I kill him?” she asked with a husky voice. Both Diggle and Sara looked at her in confusion until she pointed to the lifeless body lying on the floor just a few steps away from them. Diggle approached to check his pulse. “No, just unconscious. You hit him pretty good though judging by the bruise on the side of his head.”

They looked at Felicity. “I guess…? It’s all still kind of a blur. Seems that the baseball bat you had me keep at the desk came in handy after all.” She replied in Dig’s direction with a clearly forced joviality.

Diggle looked at her with concern clearly showing in his facial expression “are you ok, Felicity?”

She walked towards her working space turning her back to the other three avoiding eye contact. “Sure, yeah… I, I just wanna go home. I should go home. If it’s ok with you of course. I will look into the damage tomorrow, unless you think I should start now. I should probably take a look at it now, right? Yeah, I should look at this now. He penetrated pretty good. And by penetrate I don’t mean in a physical sexual way. I’m talking in cyber terms. And I’m not referring to cyber-sex. Not that I'd have any experience in this area… Well, there was this one time…”

“Felicity.” Oliver interrupted her rambling gently squeezing her right shoulder. “I’ll take you home. There’s nothing that cannot wait until tomorrow.”

Sensing Felicity’s reluctance Sara stepped in “Dig and I will take this douche to the precinct. My father will take care of him finding out who put him up to this” she said.

“I’ll go get changed and then we can head out too, ok?” Oliver asked. Felicity just nodded her head and sat down on her chair. After a few brief moments Oliver reappeared in her focus wearing a pair of washed out jeans and a dark blue Henley. Kneeling down in front of her he gently cradled her chin with his left hand taking the saline solution filled bulb syringe his other and started to clean the cut on her cheek. After applying a butterfly bandage he took a cotton swab and continued the treatment on her lower lip. She winced at the contact. “Sorry, I’ll be done in just a moment”. He stood up reaching one hand out to her pulling her up from her seat.

“Come on, let’s get you home.” He gave her one of his small genuine smiles that made her heart skip a beat.


	2. Chapter 2

They headed out the side entrance straight into the alley way where their cars were parked. She instinctively went for her red Mini, but Oliver held her back taking her by the hand. “Let’s take my car. We can get yours tomorrow morning”. Too tired to argue she let him lead her to his Mercedes sports car and placed herself in the passenger seat.

Within ten minutes they’d reached her townhouse and Oliver parked his car at the sidewalk right in front. He immediately stepped out of his car and opened up the passenger’s door to help her out of the car. “There’s no need for you…” she started saying, but Oliver quickly interrupted her “I know, that you think that way, but please, let me be here for you. Just, let me make sure you’re safe. Please.”

Without letting her hand go they both reached the front door to her home. Felicity was roaming her purse for her keys as suddenly Oliver stepped right in front of her grabbing her by the waist and holding her tight behind his back. “What the…?” she exclaimed, but he shushed her at the same second. With a light push he opened up the door. As she took a closer look she could see that the door lock had been cracked.

Slowly they both entered her apartment or what was left thereof. Nothing was left in one piece. The furniture was turned over the sofa cushions slashed, her book self was lying on the floor the books ripped apart.

Taking a look around she could barely hold back the scream that threatened to escape her mouth and before she could even try to comprehend what her eyes were telling her Oliver started to move toward her bedroom when suddenly the door flew open and a dark shape launched at him. The other man was no real opponent to Oliver though and in what appeared to be only seconds to her he pinned down the other man to the ground knocking him out of consciousness.

In an instance he was on his phone calling the police, telling them there was a break-in. She sank down the wall beside her kitchen curled up into a ball.

After securing the intruder Oliver sat down on the floor right beside her wrapping an arm around her shoulders tugging her close to his side. They both did not speak a word and after another few minutes her apartment was filled with cops.

One of them suddenly crouched right in front of her placing a hand on one of her knees. She looked at him with tearful eyes. It was Quentin Lance looking at her with worried eyes. “Are you ok Kiddo?” All she could do was nod.

He exchanged looks with Oliver and they both stood up and walked a few steps starting to talk to each other. She could not hear what the two of them were discussing, but as soon as they finished their talk Oliver walked back to her reaching out both his hands to pull her up from the floor pulling her into a tight hug.

“We should go. We can make our statements at the precinct another day, I cleared that with Lance” he said. “But where?” she replied. After she’d told him about her confrontation with Moira and the truth about Thea’s birth father a little bit more than week ago they could not go back to the mansion and both of them would not want that either. “Don’t worry, I’ve got a place.” Oliver replied picking up her bag and coat from the floor. He took her by the hand and led her out of her apartment.

An uncomfortable silence filled the car as they drove down Water Street, both searching for words about what had happened the in the few hours before. Oliver steered his car into a parking garage of a high rise on the eastern edge of Downtown Starling. Felicity looked at him with a questioning expression on her face as they both entered the building. He tried to give her an encouraging smile but failed miserably as he pulled out a key card from his jacket waiting for the doors of what seemed to be a private elevator to open. “Oliver, where are we?” She asked. “A temporary solution before I find a place of my own. It’s one of the furnished penthouses Queen Consolidated holds.” He replied. The elevator brought them up to the 32nd floor. As the doors opened they both stood in a lavishly decorated foyer that on its own already had the size of her whole apartment. Through the wide opened sliding doors she could see a generous living room with an open kitchen area.

She took off her jacket and slipped out of her shoes and followed Oliver into the living room. She moved over to the oversized sofa and sat down cross-legged and lay down her head on the backrest staring at ceiling. A few moments later Oliver sat down next to her handing her a glass of red wine. “I figured in this situation water would not be an option.” He said trying to lighten the mood. “Thank you.” She said in a low shaky voice. She rolled her head to the side to look at him. “How did he know my name?” addressing the big elephant in the room, the one question that’s been roaring in his mind. Looking at him she knew that he was just as shaken as she was. “I don’t know.” He replied. “But I – we will find out. I promise you.” He moved a little bit closer to her and she laid her head down on his shoulder enjoying their wine in silence once more.


	3. Chapter 3

She woke up with a start not knowing where she was. All she knew was that she lay in a comfortable bed wrapped in a blanket and the sun was shining in her face. She sat up trying to recollect her memory of the previous hours. The throbbing in her cheek and lip brought it back. The stranger’s voice through their intercom system threatening her, the attack in the foundry and the break-in at the apartment… And Oliver taking her with him to his intermediary home. Right… He must have carried her to bed. Wait! What? Looking under the blanket she let out a relieved sigh. She was still dressed in her clothes that – well reeked of smoke and burnt plastic, nice…

Looking down the bed there lay a Shirt and a pair of sweatpants that Oliver must have put there. She quickly got out of bed grabbing the clean clothes and headed for the ensuite bathroom. She quickly decided that she needed a shower and get rid of the horrible smell of smoke and burnt plastic reminding her of the events the night before. She stepped into the shower and let the hot spray calm her nerves.

She put on the obviously much too big clothes and couldn’t hold back a laugh as she caught her reflection in the wall mirror. She looked like an infant wearing dad’s clothes.

She tied the shirt with a knot on the right side and tightened the cord of the sweats as good as she could and rolled the waistband up two times so she wouldn’t trip over them  and as she finally felt confident enough that the pants would actually stay in place for more than just five consecutive minutes she stepped out of the bedroom and stood in a long hallway and suddenly realized that she had no clue how to get to the living room, and while she was at it; how did she get into bed in the first place?  

Before she could think any more about the how and when she got to bed a familiar smell of freshly brewed coffee filled her nostrils and as under a spell she automatically turned right and made her way down the hallway. Once arrived in the living room she saw Oliver standing in the open kitchen area circling around making breakfast. “And there’s an image I thought I would never see.” She mumbled, more to herself than anything else.

“And what image would that be?” He asked while turning around to her holding a cup of coffee in his hand, smiling at her. “Ummm, well, you know, I didn’t picture you as someone that knows his way around a kitchen. I mean, you obviously never had to make any meal at the mansion, but then again you had to eat something the five years you were away and obviously there wasn’t any junk food involved looking at your body, not that I’d actually noticed. I don’t look at you like that. I mean of course I look at you, I mean I need to look when I have to patch you up… And I am going to stop, right now.” She tried hard to focus on her toes and to not look up, but then she could hear a small chuckle and when she finally looked up again she saw Oliver with an impish grin on his face. “Here, have some coffee, it might help with the rambling.”

She looked at him open mouthed, but did not say more. “Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes” he added “and by the way, Raisa taught Thea and me a few things when we were younger, so I know how to make the perfect blueberry pancakes.”

Just when she wanted to take a seat in one of the barstools at the kitchen counter an alarm went off on her phone. She grabbed it out of her purse and found several texts from Dig and Sara along with two RSS feeds. One was from a notorious tabloid-site she didn’t even look at and the other was about a robbery at Kord Industries yesterday, just a few hours before the break-in at Widmeer Bank. The robbery that Oliver and Sara had interrupted. She absent mindedly went through the texts she got last night… The robbery at Kord’s, the break-in at the Bank, the attacks… Coincidences? Her thoughts were interrupted as Oliver sat down next to her with two plates filled with delicious looking and smelling pancakes.

She just looked at him with amazement “Who are you and what have you done to Oliver Queen?” He just looked at her with a wide smile on his face and a hint of pride as the two starting to eat their breakfast.

A few minutes into their meal he looked at her again “Anything important that you were looking at before?” a slight hint of concern in his voice. She looked up from her plate as well “Yeah, actually, Dig and Sara got some info on yesterday’s attacker, well, attackers and it seems that there is some kind of connection to the break-in at Kord Industries.” He looked at her with furrowed brows waiting for her to further elaborate.

She waited a few seconds to sort out all the thoughts doing a weird circle dance in her head. “The thing stolen yesterday at Kord’s was skeleton key, that thing could be modified to open anything, anything like for instance” she paused, still collecting her thoughts “a bank vault, any bank vault” Oliver looked at her “like a bank vault at Widmeer Bank.” He finished the sentence for her.


	4. Chapter 4

Unable to process the new found information and the consequent questions arising thereof the elevator doors opened and a small brown haired whirlwind stormed the penthouse.

“There you are, Ollie! What the hell is wrong with you? You move out of the mansion without telling me. You don’t tell anyone where you were moving to. You and mom don’t talk anymore. What is going on?” She was furious.

“Well, at least I didn’t have to wonder about the where for very long thanks to the very attentive tabloids that spotted you and blondie over there entering the parking garage to this building last night.” She said side-eyeing Felicity.

She turned her attention back at her brother and glared at him with an only too familiar provoking look on her face. He stood in the middle of the living room between her and Felicity.

“Thea, don’t!!” he said, trying to stop her outburst, but he knew better. There was no force powerful enough on this earth to stop his sister when she was mad. And she was not just mad, she was fuming.

She walked past him with a devilish grin and sat down on one of the barstools. She looked down at the two plates and the last remnants of what she only could assume were blueberry pancakes. “Oh, now isn’t that sweet. My brother making breakfast for his EA. That must have been one hell of a night.” Sizing Felicity up. Oliver saw Felicity’s face blush and turning redder by the second. She stood there frozen in place unable to say a single word.

He shot around and pointed a warning finger at his sister “ENOUGH! Thea, I know that you’re angry at me and you have a right to feel mad, but don’t you dare vent your spleen on Felicity!” Thea, still looking rather unimpressed by his speech stood up from the barstool and moved in Felicity’s direction her words still addressed in his direction “Ollie the gentleman, defending his girlfriend’s reputation. That’s cu-te...”

These words seemed to do the job and released Felicity from her congealment. she looked at the younger woman in front of her with wide eyes.

“Oh, no. No no. I’m not his. And he is definitely not. Nope. Naha, this is not what this is… Well, I know what it must look like to you, but I just spent the night here – in a separate bed, in another room. Alone. Just me and him. In separate rooms.” She took a deep breath trying to avoid any further rambling.

She walked over to the sofa and sat down and looked at Thea again. The young woman was still watching her with an intense glare, but apparently her words had calmed her down at least a little bit. Encouraged thereby Felicity continued explaining the situation. “There was a break-in at my apartment. There is not one piece of furniture still intact and, um, your brother was kind enough to let me stay here with him. So yeah, that’s why I’m here, because my home resembles more of a war zone than a cozy home.”

Within a split second she found herself in a tight hug from Thea. “I’m so, so sorry! Oh my god, I behaved like a total bitch and you are practically homeless.” Felicity sat there looking up at Oliver with a helpless expression that made him chuckle.

“Thea, please let her go, we do not want to add broken bones to her list of problems.” Thea turned her head in his direction not completely letting go of blonde. “Don’t you dare change the subject, brother. I’m still mad at you. You still have some serious explaining to do.” Felicity took the chance of the other woman’s distraction to free herself from her grasp and stood up.

“I’ll call Lance, ask him if my apartment is cleared so I can get some clothes and some other stuff.” Just as Oliver wanted to argue she added “Dig can drive me. You should talk to your sister and I don’t need to be here for this conversation, so I’ll leave you two to it.” She approached him and added in a low voice so only he could hear her “Tell her the truth.” With that she left the living room to make the two phone calls.

First thing back at the guest bedroom she talked to Lance who told her that it was in fact ok for her to go back to her apartment to grab a few things. They also agreed to meet at the precinct next thing tomorrow morning. They hung up just after she reassured him that she really was ok and taken care of.

The talk with Diggle was rather brief. She asked him to pick her up at the address she’d given him explaining that Oliver was with Thea working through some issues and that she wanted to go to the foundry rather sooner than later to finally re-assemble their servers and get the network up and running again. She also gave him a list of things to get at the IT-store so she could immediately get to work. He did not sound too thrilled about this task but agreed to pick her up right away after finishing the task.

Once she got back to the living room she found it empty, but noticed a piece of paper beside another cup of steaming hot coffee already prepared just the way she liked it. While she took a sip of her second cup she read the handwritten note:

_“Went out with Thea, going to pick up some of her things at the mansion – I told her the truth._

_I hope it will all be ok in the end. Thank you, Felicity…_

_Talk to you later._

_If something comes up, call me immediately, please. - Oliver”_

As there was nothing to do for her at the moment other than wait for Diggle to pick her up she sat down on the sofa again and turned on the TV looking for some light entertainment to get her mind of the fact that obviously all of the previous night’s events were somehow connected, including the robbery of a skeleton key at Kord Industries. What the heck was going on? But no matter how hard she tried to concentrate on the episode of Castle playing on the big screen in front of her, she wasn’t able to shake the thoughts whirling around in her head.

And when finally her phone rang she was relieved and picked it up without even looking at the display.

“Hey, Dig! I’ll be right down!” but as she didn’t hear an immediate response from her friend she froze.

“Hello, Miss Smoak, did you really think that you can hide away from me in a nice penthouse suite? You feel protected right now?” the man on the other end of the line asked. It was him! The same voice that intruded their network the night before.

At the same moment the realization hit her the elevator doors opened.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally finished the new chapter. It took me longer than I actually had hoped.  
> Again, enjoy the read!  
> Kudos and comments are welcome!

The awareness of another person in the penthouse paralyzed her brain completely and before she could even try to think clearly her body had made up the decision of what to do instead. She jumped off the sofa and crouched behind the armrest. She knew it wasn’t the smartest move, but the complete terror that filled her mind blocked out all other thoughts. He had found her…

She closed her eyes and all she could hear was her rapid pulse turning into white noise. Suddenly she felt to large arms grabbing her at her shoulders and lifting her up the floor. She screamed but still refusing to open her eyes. Out of the distance she could hear a voice talking to her, but she could not understand a single word. The next thing she knew was being pulled into a tight hug. ‘That’s odd’ she thought and finally opened her eyes. The sudden relief that hit her almost made her lose her grip. “Dig! Thank god.” She mumbled her head pressed against his giant chest hugging him back.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked with a fazed expression on his face taking one step back to look at her. “Who did you expect it to be?” She looked down at the phone in her hand. “I thought it was him. He found me, Dig. He knows that I’m here” she replied, her voice trembling.

He looked alarmed. “Why would you think that? What happened?” Looking up to him she could hardly contain the tears. “He called me. Just before you came in” pointing to her phone. The expression in Diggle’s face changed instantly at her statement. She could see that he was on high alert. “Grab your stuff. We need to leave, now.”

**************

An hour later Oliver entered the basement. He saw Diggle sitting in Felicity’s chair in front of the monitors pressing the enter button on the keyboard in a constant pattern obviously trying to reboot the computers. He looked around curiously trying to find out where she was. “Where’s Felicity?” he asked in Diggle’s direction. His friend looked up to him in surprise “what do you mean? She should be upstairs. She told me that she needed to get access to the Wi-Fi signal from the club in order to start her search … Oh, now wait a minute!” both men gazed at each other and before Diggle could say anything more Oliver was already half way up the stairs. “Oliver, wait!” Diggle called after him stopping him in his tracks.

“You should know that there was an incident at you penthouse after you left with your sister.” Oliver stiffened and turned his head around. “What do you mean with ‘incident’, Dig?” he asked impatiently.

“She got a call from the creep that hacked our system yesterday and threatened her.” He responded to the question. “She was scared out of her mind, man”.

Oliver couldn’t believe what he just heard. The disbelief clearly showing on his face. “Why didn’t you call me, Dig? Why did none of you inform me about this? I told her to call me!”

Not waiting for an answer he climbed the rest of the staircase two steps at once. Diggle in pursuit. They both took the side exit of the club into the alleyway where Oliver quickly got onto his Ducati not bothering to put his helmet on before kickstarting the bike. “Her car is gone, it think I know exactly where to find her” he said loudly right before pulling away. He just sincerely hoped to be proven right.

**************

She didn’t remember much about the drive from the penthouse building to Verdant. Diggle stayed quite giving her time to recollect. She really liked that about her friend. He always knew when to say something – which mostly was just on point – and when to give others the room they needed.

She was trapped in her mind. Repeating the stranger’s words on the other end of her phone over and over again. ‘…did you really think that you can hide away from me…? You feel protected right now?’

The more she thought about it the more the fear she felt earlier on got replaced by rage. How dare he. Who did this guy think he was, or her for that matter. NO! She would not let herself get intimidated by a faceless voice.

By the time they both arrived at Verdant all fear had subsided. Instead she felt this irresistible urge to find this douchebag scumbag and put an end to this farce once and for all. With a fierce determination she stepped out of the car and entered the club and entered the code to the basement. She practically ran downstairs to grab one of the tablets off her workspace before she took the two bags out of Diggle’s hands and got to work on the fried servers. It was a quick fix, she knew, but it would work.

In between the repair work she set up a search for the asshole that tried to scare her. She fed the system with all information she got from Diggle about the two guys that attacked her in the club’s basement and her home. Trying not to think too much about what this all meant.

She gave Diggle some instructions on how to get the system back up – knowing that this part wouldn’t be that much of a challenge for him as it practically meant to press one button only. It would just take some time, time she didn’t want to spend down there. So she told him, that she needed to get access to the club’s Wi-Fi and had to go upstairs for this.

It wasn’t all a lie. Of course it was total bogus that she needed to get upstairs to access the club’s Wi-Fi, but she really needed to get out of the basement. After all, she did not feel safe down there at the moment. She made herself comfortable at the bar counter.

She absentmindedly dug into her jacket pocket just to find her car keys. In that moment her mind was made up. She needed to get to her apartment. She needed to get her life back. And without further thinking about her actions she slipped out of the club, into her car.

After ten minutes she parked her car in her parking spot and stood in front of her apartment. She took a deep breath and entered her home, or what was left of it to be exact.

She caught her breath looking at the devastation in front of her. It looked even worse in the light of day than what she remembered from last night.

Suddenly she wasn’t so sure about her actions anymore, thinking that going to her home all alone maybe was a mistake. The pictures about the man that attacked her and Oliver just hours before became incredibly vivid. She shut the front door behind her, grabbing one of the dining chairs to barricade the front door.

She made her way to her bedroom through the destruction that peered hard at her from all over her apartment, glancing back at the front door every other second. Finally in her bedroom she quickly grabbed a duffle bag out of her closet and began to stuff it with clothes and other items she thought she needed the next few days. Once she was finished there were three bags and two carton boxes waiting on her bed and she grabbed the pair of grey skinny jeans and the pink tank top she wanted to wear and made her way to the bathroom, again making sure the front door was still shut tightly.

She got dressed and swiftly packed her toilet bag with all necessities. She brought all of her packed belongings to the living room looking back at the place she before yesterday had called home. She put on a pair of black flats and removed the chair from under the door knob. Just as she put it back to its rightful place the door was kicked in with a loud bang and before she could even react she heard a familiar voice calling her name. It was Oliver frantically scanning the room. She stepped out into the living room area to look at him. He closed the space between them with two swift strides stopping only a few inches in front of her making her lose her balance.

“What the hell, Oliver!? You nearly gave me a heart attack!” she yelled at him in her loud voice while trying to regain her balance by gripping at his forearms. Oliver just glared back at her “What the hell, indeed!” he yelled back in just about the same volume. “What do you think you are doing here alone? Do you have any idea what I thought happened to you? Did you even for one second think about what could happen to you? Do you actually want to get killed? – Because, Felicity, that’s what it looks like to me, so yeah; WHAT THE HELL!”

She let go of his arms at his response taking a few steps back and turned around to further walk away from him. “You know, Oliver” she spoke to him over her shoulder not looking at him, “if you only came here to yell at me and making me feel guilty about wanting to check on my home after it was completely destroyed by some low life and right after that turned upside down once more by the police you might as well just go and leave me alone.” She stood still, her body stiff and both her hands clenched to fists trying hard to calm her breath.

“This was my home, Oliver. WAS. Because after yesterday, after today, seeing this.” She waved her hand around the room “I am not sure if I will ever be able to call this place home again.” She shuddered and wrapped her arms around her waist. He stepped behind her grabbing both of her wrists in his hands entwining her in a tight embrace.

She leaned into the embrace seeking for some kind of balance, an anchor that would ground her again. “I’m sorry” he said in a whisper against her ear, holding her even closer to him. “I was just … I was worried out of my mind, Felicity – please never do something so stupid ever again.” She slowly pulled out of his grasp and turned around. Not losing contact altogether. “I’m sorry too. And you are right, it was stupid. I didn’t think at the moment I got into my car. I was just so, so mad and frustrated.” She said while nervously fumbling with the hem of his shirt. Hearing a soft chuckle from him she looked up. She could see that he was still mad, but she could also see the worry and relief in his eyes. “An ‘I’m Sorry’ and a ‘you are right’ at the same time? Wow.” He smiled down at her with this gentle smile she loved so much. She crooked her head and raised an eyebrow in response. “Don’t get cocky. It doesn’t fit you.” The smile on her face, however, was quickly replaced by a sad look “now what?”

“Now, we get out of this place and find out what the fuck is going on - together. That’s what.” He responded placing a soft kiss on her forehead.


	6. Chapter 6

_She was furious. This little annoying bug should be dead by now, but clearly she underestimated her. She was so sure Tockman would do the job. After all he was equally ruthless and desperate. And by literally handing him the opportune moment to fetch the skeleton key on a silver platter she thought she’d given him sufficient motivation to do the job for her. Clearly, she was wrong. But she didn’t care that much anymore. If he’d fail she already had a backup plan at hand._

\----------------------------------------------------------------------

Oliver helped her stuff all of her packed belongings into her Mini and followed her all the way to Verdant staying close behind her all the time.

She felt relieved once they got to the parking spot behind the club and when she got out of her car Oliver was already standing next to her. They both entered the club when Felicity instantly stood still. He looked at her noticing her hesitation. “Um, just how mad do you think he is?” He opened the door the basement giving her a warm smile “I think he is more worried than angry with you, Felicity.” He said reassuringly when she gradually passed him walking down the stairs. “Good, that’s good. I wouldn’t want a repetition of our conversation.” She mumbled to herself.

She walked over to her workstation and put her purse on the table. Looking over to Dig who was on the mats training. He didn’t say anything when she approached him. “I’m sorry, John.” She said for the lack of more words. He put his hand on her shoulder and gave it a firm squeeze “it’s fine. I’m just glad you’re back and in one piece.”

When they both made their way back to her workstation she watched Sara working the microscope which took her a bit by surprise. But then again what did she even know about the tiny blonde and what she was doing during her time away.

As if she heard her thoughts, she looked up to her “I studied genetic blood anomalies when I was on the freighter, so I kind of know my way around a microscope” she explained.

“I got a good shot at one of the men during the robbery the other night. You know, right before you…” She didn’t finish the sentence, when she saw Felicity stiffen. Instead she took her hand “Hey, are you ok?”

“If by ‘OK’ you mean I am fine with my life being degraded to three duffle bags and two carton boxes, I am just peachy.” Felicity replied. Sara cocked her head to the side and considered her with a sympathetic smile. “We’ll catch this son of a bitch, promise.”

Felicity slowly let her hand slide out of Sara’s grip and gave her a nod. She didn’t want her sympathy or anyone’s for that matter. She wanted her life back, now. And there was work to do to get there. So instead of giving in to self-pity she walked to her chair and sat down, still looking at Sara “So, what did you find out so far? Did you hear back from your dad?”

“Yes, I have.” She replied. “The guy that attacked you down here - his name is Walczak – he’s a small-time criminal that even on his best days didn’t commit anything worse than petty theft. He was obviously hired by someone, but he refuses to spill a name. As is the other guy from your apartment. But, both of them also admitted being part of the attempted bank robbery at the other night. It seems that all of this is somehow connected...”

“It’s clear that neither Walczak nor the other guy are behind all this. Their just the muscle. We need to find the brain behind all that.” Oliver stepped in not taking his eyes off of Felicity. She noticed and it made her feel itchy. She needed to do something, and fast.

“Exactly!” Sara said turning back to the microscope “and I just might have something here that could help.” she looked back up “there is some significant cell damage and the platelet count is extremely low.” She rolled over to the computer station behind her “Felicity, can I use your computer?” she asked but not waiting for a response. “McGregor’s Syndrome, it’s a genetic defect that creates fluid build-up in the lungs which leads to oxygen deprivation and multi-system organ failure. It’s terminal.” She concluded.

That gave Felicity the final push to start working. She turned around to her station. Her hands flying over the keyboards. “It’s also very rare. And if I’m right, it just might lead us to the brains of all of this.” Oliver looked at her with confusion written all over his face.

“Someone with McGregor’s isn’t likely to do the muscle work. This has to be HIM! The man that killed my babies – I mean our network…” Her hands still flying over the keyboards. “So, this might just gave us a way to ID him. People with this syndrome are extremely rare, but a person with McGregor’s and a knowledge in computer science..?” She started cross-referencing all databases available to her. Finally a photo showed up right in front of her.

“William Tockman.”

Finally she had a face to the impending threat hanging over her head. She felt both relieved and fear washing over her in equal measure. Finally she had work to do. She felt in place again. She set up one search after the other and updated all their devices.

She would solve this mystery. God she hated mysteries.

Hours after starting her work, she tore her eyes away from the monitors. She didn’t find out much more except the fact that not only was he terminally ill, but also had a sister with cystic fibrosis. The money he attempted to steal the night Oliver and Sara interrupted him obviously wasn’t for him but for her... Not that this fact make him any less despicable.

Both Diggle and Sara had both said their goodbyes and left for the evening (or was it night already? She really couldn’t tell).

The exhaustion was finally catching up with her. It was a long day. Every single bone in her body screamed for sleep. She got up from her chair, wondering where Oliver might be. He wouldn’t leave her alone down here, right? But, there was no trace of him, no matter how hard she looked around.

“Oliver?” she called out into the wide space. Nothing. Where was he? She grabbed her phone and speed dialed his number. No answer.

She felt the sudden rush of panic filling her gut. She had to sit down. So she made her way to the back of the basement where they placed a black leather couch a few weeks ago trying to calm herself down.

She pulled her legs up on the sofa and let her head rest on her knees and closed her eyes, trying to breathe evenly. The moment she closed her eyes though the pictures from the other night came rushing back. Tockman’s frightening voice over the intercom before everything around her exploded. The darkness she was left standing in. The door upstairs opening and the unexpected realization that a stranger was entering the basement.

She could still hear the man’s words “… this will make a lot more fun than I expected.” Before she hit him with the baseball bat…

The tears she held back till that point flooded her eyes and streamed down her face. The overwhelming sensation of anger, frustration and fear filled her chest and made her gasp for air. Her pulse throbbed in her head and she felt like her heart was about to explode in her chest.

When she finally opened her eyes and looked up she could see the blurry outline of a person through the tears only a few feet away approaching her fast. She crawled back into the sofa, trying to make herself as small as possible hiding her head between her legs shielding it with her arms holding her breath. Just then a very well-known pleasant smell of soap, sandalwood and a hint of leather surrounded her. Oliver…

She felt an arm around her shoulders and another around her legs holding her tight. “Shhhh… I’m here. It’s Ok…” He carefully let go of her legs and his hand came up cupping her jaw and tilting up her head. “What happened?” he asked her running his thumb over her cheek to remove the rest of the tears from her face.

She looked up to him “I… I don’t know. I finished my work and suddenly all of you were gone. I mean, I know Sara and Dig left a while ago, the both said goodbye. But then I looked around and you were gone too and I suddenly realized that I was alone down here and then there were these pictures in my head and his voice and I…”

He looked at her confused “but, I told you that I was just going upstairs to get us something to drink. Remember?” She shook her head “umm, no. I think I must have been a little preoccupied. I’m just glad your back.”

He could see her weariness in her eyes and made the decision for both of them. “Let’s go home. We have a busy day tomorrow with the early appointment at the precinct. And at one point we will have to show up at the office” he said and before she could argue he added “Home. Sleep. And don’t worry the police are patrolling the building after what happened this morning I had Sara talk to her father.”

**************

It took him a ten minutes discussion with Felicity outside the club to finally getting her agreement to reload her boxes and bags to his car and let him drive them to the penthouse. And the fact that he’d actually won the argument as fast as he did made him feel a bit proud of himself.

The sight of the small blonde woman in the passenger seat beside him, however made him feel anything else but proud. He wanted to protect her from this and he certainly never wanted her to be the actual target of a madman, which Tockman obviously was. He couldn’t shake the feeling of failure.

She looked exhausted. The bruise on her cheek was healing, but it was still visible and the skin around was all different shades of blue and yellow.

She had fallen asleep during the drive and he didn’t bother waking her up once his car was parked. He walked over to the passenger side of the car and opened the door. She didn’t react as he unbuckled her and lifted her out of the car and into his arms.

She didn’t even wake up when they arrived at the penthouse and he brought her upstairs. He only struggled a short moment before he walked past the guest bedroom she had stayed in and entered the master suite where he stayed. He wouldn’t let her out of his sight as long as a man was out there hunting her down. He laid her down on his bed and covered her with a blanket before he gently took off her glasses placing them on the bedside table.

He turned on the light on the opposite side of the bed before heading back downstairs to grab her clothes out of his car. He was certain that she would appreciate that in the morning.

He placed the boxes on the bed in the guest bedroom and carried the three duffle bags with him to his room. She hadn’t moved a single inch since he had laid her down. ‘That’s good’ he thought. She needed sleep.

He thought about taking a shower, but quickly decided that this as well could wait to the morning. He really didn’t want to leave her alone longer than necessary. So he simply took off his shoes and cautiously placed himself on the bed on top of the sheets leaning his head against the headboard and closed his eyes as well.

He woke up a few hours later to a low whimper. Felicity was still lying beside him. But unlike the sound sleep she was in when he too dozed off she was tossing from one side to another. He only knew too well what that meant, having had his fair share of nightmares in the last seven years.

Until this day he wasn’t able to sleep an entire night without waking up in the middle of the night still haunted by the faces of people he once knew, people that were taken from him along the way and others he had killed. It hurt him, seeing her like this. He never wanted this for her and the thought that he never should have dragged her into this life. But he knew that – if she were awake – she would tell him that this was her life and her choice and he knew just as well that without her he’d never gotten as far as he did.

He moved closer to her and gently put an arm around her waist pulling her closer to his chest. He could feel her erratic breathing and her rapid pulse pulling her even closer to his side in the hope that the contact and the warmth of his body would soothe her troubled sleep. “Your safe, Felicity. It’s only a dream. I’m here and nothing is going to happen to you. I promise.” He softly whispered into her ear while his other hand tenderly stroke over her head. Her breath evened out a few moments later and he as well closed his eyes again.


	7. Chapter 7

She woke to an alarm the next morning groaning her protest as she buried her head deeper into the pillow. ‘A very hard pillow’ she realized and reached out a hand to explore the surrounding area, cautiously patting the surface. That’s when she heard a small chuckle coming from somewhere close to her ear when she finally decided to opened her eyes to notice that the hard ‘pillow’ in fact was Oliver’s chest.

“Felicity? What exactly are you doing?” he asked looking down at her.

“You know, just checking... I mean not that I’m checking you out. No! Definitely not checking you out. Just tried to get a feeling of my surrounding… And by that I don’t say that I want to feel you up! Oh my god, please shut me up already!” She said now sitting on the bed next to him hiding her face behind her hands.

To say that what she heard next surprised her would be the understatement of the century; He laughed. Not a mild chuckle, no this was a ‘Laughing out Loud’ full hearted laugh! She turned around in shock. “Please tell me I didn’t drool on you” was all she could reply to this, still startled by his reaction to her newest ramble.

He looked at her with open amusement. “No. Don’t worry, but I have to say, for a small person you snore…” he didn’t get to finish the sentence before a pillow hit him straight in the face.

“Don’t you dare finish this sentence, Oliver Queen! I do not snore!” she said affronted. “Ok. If it makes you feel better…” he shrugged with a sly grin on his face.

She only then got to take a look around the room they were in. This wasn’t the room she slept in the previous night. This had to be Oliver’s room. But she had no explanation how she ended up in here last night?

“Um, Oliver? How… Why am I in your room? … Oh god, please tell me that I didn’t start to sleepwalk again.” She turned on the mattress to face him.

“You sleepwalk?” he simply replied without offering her an explanation to her question. “I used to, when I was little… NOT the point, Oliver!” she crossed her arms in front of her chest, her left eyebrow raised.

“Well, you fell asleep half way here in the car.” He started to explain (was he blushing?). “You didn’t budge when we arrived here so I carried you up to the penthouse and I really didn’t want you to be alone in the night, after what happened earlier in the foundry…” he finished not looking at her.

She moved closer to him laying a hand on his shoulder “thank you.” She just said. He looked up “for what?”

She cocked her head smiling warmly at him “for taking care of me, again. Thank you.”

He took her hand from his shoulder between both his hands rubbing gentle circles over the back. “How did you sleep?” the worry clear in his voice. But instead of answering she freed her hand from his grip and got up from the bed. “I think we should get ready, we have an appointment with Lance in less than an hour. So, I’ll go get a shower.”

He let her go. He knew exactly that pushing into talking about her nightmare would make things only worse. He’d been there more than once…

Before she could leave his room he called out “I, umm, brought up your bags last night. They’re here.” He pointed to the foot of the bed. “I thought you might appreciate having something else to change into.”

She just smiled at him taking the three bags with her as she left his room.

**************

She was sipping at her coffee out of the thermos mug Oliver had prepared for her and humming approvingly while the hot dark brown elixir of life ran down her throat. He prepared her just the way she liked it. ‘I could get used to this’ she thought smiling down at the mug between her hands.

“Used to what?” Oliver asked still concentrating on the road.

Her head shot to her left looking at him wide-eyed. “I didn’t mean to say that out loud! I just – I like this… And by this I mean the coffee. You made it just the way I like it. And I appreciate it not having to run down to the coffee shop at the corner at QC to get an actual decent cup of coffee.”

She fidgeted uncomfortably in the car seat. “We, should get our stories in order. I mean, we clearly don’t want Lance to know the whole story, right? But, he knows I’m working for you – both YOUs. But, you, meaning Oliver-you doesn’t know about Arrow-you – do you think Oliver should know about my work with the Arrow? And – wow - that just sounded really weird…”

He knew exactly what she wanted to say. “What if I know about your involvement with the Arrow?” he suggested. He could see that she was processing what he just said, chewing on her lower lip. “Why would I tell you something like this? I mean, you’re my boss after all and I’m not sure why anyone would tell their employer about their involvement in vigilantism.” She responded.

“If anything should be clear to Lance it’s that you’re not just my EA, Felicity. If not before, then definitely after the break-in.” He simply stated.

“True. So, we’re going with ‘my boss knows, but not really approves’ line. Ok. We can do that.” She summarized. “Felicity, relax. We will handle it.” He reassured just as they arrived at the police station.

“Yeah, because your lies are always that convincing” she retorted just as she stepped out of the car.

**************

The precinct was already a busy place at this early hour with people rushing in and out the front doors, phones were ringing and people talking loudly and she could see him scanning their surroundings already cataloging every person into his two categories.

“Hey! We will handle this, remember?” She reminded him with a small smile grabbing his hand as they made their way through the surge of people leading them both up the stairwell where a familiar face approached them. Quentin Lance reached out a hand to greet both of them – well, more Felicity than Oliver. With him it was more of a snort than an actual ‘Good Morning’.

“I’ve cleared room 6 for us. So we can talk in a quieter place.” He said, showing the way with his right arm walking them into the interrogation room. “Um, Miss Smoak, I’d rather prefer talking to you alone, you know…” he said looking at both of them. But the moment Oliver nodded his agreement she stepped in “And I’d prefer having him here. After all we both were there and this way we can save us all some time. Besides, Det… Officer Lance, Oliver knows about my involvement with the Arrow. Soooo.”

Lance didn’t not even as much as raise an eyebrow at her statement. He only stared at Oliver for several moments without blinking. “And you’re OK with that, Queen? Her working with that guy?” He asked straight into Oliver’s face. “No. I am not. In fact I more than once expressed my concerns to Felicity about her involvement in all this, but what can I say? She’s an adult woman who makes her own decisions and it is not my place to question her decisions as long as they don’t interfere with her work.” He responded staring back at Lance.

She looked from one man to the other and cleared her throat “when the two of you are done with the odd starring competition, I would like to get to the actual point of our meeting.” the annoyance clear in her voice. Two pairs of eyes looked at her in surprise, but Quentin Lance quickly straightened his posture and began with the usual formalities.

40 minutes into the interview she got weary “We’ve already been over this, Officer Lance, I do not know or have any idea about who would have someone hired to break into my apartment. All I know is, that my home got torn apart. Oliver and I apparently caught him in the middle when we arrived. And I don’t even want to imagine what would’ve happened if Oliver wasn’t there with me.” She stated for the third time.

“Look, Miss Smoak, I really don’t want to stir you up, but we both know, that this wasn’t the only incident. Our mutual female friend told me what happened to you earlier. And this guy too said that he was hired to do what he did. Now, we cannot keep him here for this transgression without your statement. The only reason he’s still here is that we could connect him to the break-in at Kord earlier that day.” He held up a hand to stop her before she could start arguing “please don’t. We both know that there’s no such thing as coincidence, not when circumstances pile up like in this case.”

She didn’t respond, but instead she threw a pinched look at Oliver, who understood immediately. It didn’t go unnoticed to him that her phone buzzed more than once during their interview. “Officer Lance, if there aren’t any further questions from your side we would like to continue with our day. Contrary to consistent rumors I do have a job I take seriously and so does Miss Smoak.” He didn’t give Lance a lot of room to argue and so the older man raised up from his chair and made a dismissive gesture towards the door.

“What’s wrong?” Oliver asked her as they walked out of the interrogation room together with Officer Lance following them. She was looking down at her phone. “Um, it’s probably nothing. My mom… She tried to call me six times during our statements. And also texted me, which she never does… I should probably call her back.” She told him.

She glanced at Lance “We are done, right?” he looked at her “Yes, you are free to go Miss Smoak. Take care, ok?” he took her hand gently squeezing it and looked at her with a warm smile “and if there’s anything I can help you with just give me a call.”

She smiled back at him – a man she didn’t know well, but enough to know that she could trust – after all he was the one there with her, if only through the phone, when part of the Glades went down. A man who risked his life to save hundreds if not thousands of others. And although they didn’t fully succeed because of the second earthquake device it somehow bonded them to this day.

She gave him a reassuring look. “I’ll do that. Thank you, Mister Lance.” And with that she turned around to Oliver who was already waiting for her.

“Well, that went better than expected.” She stated looking at Oliver, who obviously couldn’t get out of there fast enough as he hurried her through the corridors the of the precinct with his hand at the small of her back as he abruptly held her back by her wrist staring at the slender brunette that approached them.

She looked from her wrist to the woman that made her way towards them when she realized at whom she was looking; Laurel Lance, gorgeous Laurel, the love of Oliver’s life Laurel - Great…

“Hey, Ollie! What…” she glared at Felicity before turning her head back to Oliver “what are you doing here – with, ummm, your Secretary?”

Oliver tried to move closer to Felicity, but she backed away. “Executive Assistant. It’s Executive Assistant… And my name is Felicity” she began to explain, but Laurel did not even spare her a single glance.

She continued nonetheless “Oliver and I were supposed to give our statements after the break-in into my apartment on Friday night… Yeah – anyway - Oliver, I really need to call my mother. I’ll be down in the entry hall when you’re finished. Ok?”

He looked at her considering the situation. She reposted his gaze and said quietly “Oliver, it’s a police station not a mob casino, right? Nothing will happen to me here”. He gave her a nod “but, please do not leave the building, ok?” She agreed and walked away from this awkward encounter as fast as she could.

**************

She dialed her mother’s number as she moved downstairs to the building’s entry hall. Once arrived on the ground floor she looked for a quiet spot, but just as she started to make her way to a small alcove near the entrance she suddenly felt something cold and solid pressing into her ribs. A gun? She raised her head and looked at the person standing next to her.

William Tockman. The man who, for the first time in a long while, made her feel unsafe, made her feel scared, not good enough.

She tried to repress the sickening taste of bile crawling up her throat when his other hand moved up her spine, her shoulder grabbing her phone “I’m taking this, you won’t be needing it any longer.” He said, his lips only inches from her ear “and you might as well leave your purse too.” She let it fall to the ground without hesitation.

“Now. Miss Smoak, move slowly. We don’t want any attention, do we? Just imagine how many people I would have to kill because of your imprudence.”

She hissed at the abrupt sensation that hit her side as he pressed the barrel even harder into her ribs as he moved them straight in the direction of the exit, when all of a sudden she heard a loud voice yell: “GUN!!!”

She froze in place hearing the metallic clicking of safety catches being released simultaneously. Dozens of eyes staring at her. The gun that Tockman placed at her ribs now placed at her temple and his other hand around her throat. He placed her right in front of him as a shield.

She could hear Tockman laughing. “Unless you want me to blow that pretty blonde’s brains out, I suggest you drop your guns, gentlemen – and ladies of course.” He moved them carefully to the exit. None of the cops made a move (why did she even feel safe in this place in the first place?).

He pushed her outside and dragged to the waiting van in the side alley. His hand was still tightly wound around her neck his fingers digging into her throat. She struggled for air trying to loosen his grip with her hands, but it was no use. If anything his grip just tightened more.

A sudden burning pain hit her as Tockman slammed the pistol grip hard against her temple and she stumbled and fell into the back of the car – the world around her became blurred - “Oliver…” she breathed out just before all went dark.


	8. Chapter 8

Oliver nervously shifted from one foot to the other while watching Felicity walk away. He didn’t feel comfortable letting her leave his side. And he most certainly did not appreciate the way his ex-girlfriend treated Felicity. They didn’t know each other and he didn’t expect them to be friendly, but there was no reason for this outright hostility. So he really understood her obvious need to escape this awkward situation.

When Felicity was out of sight he turned his head back to Laurel who was staring at him curiously. “So, Ollie, care to explain what you were doing at your EA’s apartment on a Friday, in the nighttime?

“I have to say, you’ve definitely been keeping yourself busy lately. First my Sister, now your Secretary. What next, Ollie? I’m sure there is more than one easy bartender or hostess at you club that just waits to be swoon by the infamous Queen-charm – oh, wait, isn’t that exactly what would describe my little sister again?”

He gave her an incredulous look “and would you care to explain why this would be any of your concern, Laurel?” he considered her with a stern look “but if you really want to know, Felicity – that’s her name by the way, you might as well use it – is not only my EA, but also a good friend. So when she needed my help I was glad to be there for her…”

However more he had to tell Laurel at that point, this was how far he got. Just as he wanted to tell her how he felt about her behavior towards Felicity an alert went off on his phone interrupting his thoughts. At the exact same moment he wanted to check his phone he heard all hell break loose further down the corridors in the entry hall. He could hear a voice yelling and then there were several gunshots fired.

His blood froze.

Laurel’s eyes went wide in shock and surprise, but he didn’t have time for her. He held her by both her shoulders pushing her into a nearby door frame

“Stay here!” was all he said to her before he ran towards the chaos making his way through the police staff, skillfully avoiding several cops attempting to hold him back. He ran down into the hall where Cops were trying to clear out the area. All of them were too busy taking care of the confused and shaken people. Good.

He looked around intently, trying to find a sign of Felicity when all at once his eyes caught sight of her purse. It laid on the floor, discarded into a corner near the building’s side entrance. He stepped closer to it scanning the inside and saw her tablet. He looked around making sure nobody was watching him as he pulled it out of her purse.

He got up and pushed the door open and stepped into the alleyway. He could see fresh tracks of tires and, in the middle of the alley, Felicity’s cell phone, smashed. He pulled both hands up to his head grabbing the short strands of his hair and let out an angry frustrated growl.

This should not have happened! He promised her. He let this happen. He let her down, yet again.

He stood there a few moments trying to regain control. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, remembering the alarm that went off only minutes ago. He looked at the display:

_Oliver,_

_I know we promised each other that we will do this together. And I meant it._

_However, you receiving this message means that Tockman found me._

_I installed a signal-tracking-App on all our phones and, just to make sure, placed a tracker on myself,_

_as I am sure that he is not stupid enough to let me keep my phone._

_You will find me. I know you will._

\- F.

_P.S. Don’t you dare, even for one split second,_

_think that this is your fault, I MEAN IT!!!_

That sent him into motion. He sprinted to his car that was parked near the police station and jumped in starting the engine with a loud roar.

Just as he wanted to call Diggle his phone rang. His partner had beat him to it.

“Dig! He took her! We need to…” but before he could continue Diggle cut him off “Oliver, we know. Sara and I both received messages a few moments ago. What happened?”

So he filled them in about the events at the precinct. His voice was loud and filled with anger and frustration. He was frantic. He barked out orders to the two people on the other side of the line.

“Oliver, calm down!” his friend told him loudly over the phone. “We will find her, we’ve got a moving signal and we’re already on our way!”

He knew Diggle was right. He needed to calm down. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t think straight. All he could think about was her in the hands of a mad man that had been hunting her down the past days for god only knew what reason and had now caught her, because he let it happen.

He was driving as fast as he could during rush hour on a Monday morning in downtown Starling City. He was so caught up in his thoughts and worries that he only after a few minutes realized that Dig was still on the line talking to him. “Oliver, talk to me!” he heard the other man say. “I’m here, Dig!” he yelled. “Where’s her tracking signal leading?! Give me directions, Dig!"

**************

She slowly opened her eyes. Blinking once, twice. Nothing. It was completely no matter how hard she tried to see. She tried to concentrate, but the hot burning pain spreading from her temple made it hard to gain a straight thought. But she realized that she lay on a hard cold and damp floor. She felt cold and unable to move a single muscle.

Then the memories started to come back. Tockman caught her at the precinct. The last thing she remembered was his malicious grin before he’d hit her on the head and everything went black.

Her thoughts were running wild. Why? Why on earth would someone come after her? She didn’t know this guy until the moment he decided to rip her system to shreds. She’d only learned his name last evening. And for what? What had she that he’d wanted?

But the most important question; How? She kept a low profile ever since she moved to Starling. She’d been careful, especially since she had agreed to help Oliver on his mission. She had been careful for all of them. Carefully tracking all their traces.

The cracking of a door interrupted her contemplation. The light intruding the dark space hurt her eyes for a moment as she tried to get accustomed to the brightness. At that moment she actually realized that she didn’t wear her glasses anymore and all she could make out were vague shapes moving in the distance.

She could however see one of the shapes moving closer into the dark space and closer to her, but before she could prepare the man in front of her pulled her up into a sitting position by grabbing her ponytail.

She whimpered at the sudden movement but kept her focus on her lap. She didn’t want to look at the man that tried to intimidate her she’d never give him this satisfaction.

She was scared out of her mind. And as if the asshole in front of her read her mind he grabbed her chin with one of his hand and pulled her head up to look her in the eyes.

“Well hello, blondie. Glad to see you’re awake. The boss was waiting for you to wake-up. I have no clue why. If it was for me I would’ve gotten rid of you hours ago…” he trailed off his hand moving from her chin further down her neck where it stopped to tighten around her throat “but now that you’re awake we might as well have a little fun with each other. Don’t you think?”

She closed her eyes and swallowed hard struggling against the overwhelming urge to vomit.

**************

“What do you mean you LOST the signal!!?! When? Where?!” Oliver yelled at his two partners. The look on his face was terrifying. His fists were clenched and every single muscle in his body taut as he paced along the side of their van. They had parked the van in a secluded corner of an abandoned construction site on the edge of downtown Starling.

“Ollie, you really need to pull yourself together!” Sara countered putting both her hands on his shoulders. “Listen to me. We will find her, but you have got to calm down. You’re no use to her or to us in this state. So please, calm down.”

But she knew him better than that. He wouldn’t calm down until they’d found her. So she did the only thing that she knew would work. Tell him to be practical.

“Ollie, let’s be practical here, Ok? The best thing would be if you called my dad. I mean they’re clearly already looking for her. Let him know where the signal lead us and let them help.”

That seemed to help. Although he wasn’t saying anything more to them he pulled out his phone and dialed Lance’s number. “Officer Lance. I need your help. We know who abducted Miss Smoak at the precinct. His name is William Tockman. We also believe that he is the man behind the break-in at her apartment and the attack on her earlier that day… We had her signal followed but lost it somehow… I will have Sara give you the exact coordinates as soon as we have the signal back… Thank you Officer.”

With that he hung up. It was the right thing to do, Sara was right. They’d already started the search for her and he knew that there would be no way around involving the police in this case. But they still needed to start the search for her before the cops would get here.

“We need to fan out. Scan the area.” He decided, now looking at Sara “show me the exact point where you lost the signal.”

Both Diggle and Sara looked at him “What?!” he growled out in frustration.

Diggle was the first to speak up “Oliver, it’s the middle of the day and you’re standing here in the middle of an abandoned construction site in a two thousand dollar Armani suit.”

Dig was right. He needed to get changed. And obviously the Arrow wouldn’t be able to do the job today. Fortunately they all kept a set of clothes in the van in case of emergencies. He’d changed into a pair of khakis a dark blue shirt and one of his leather jackets and grabbed a Glock from their arsenal.

“Let’s go!”

**************

She’d pressed her body into one of the corners of the dark cell they kept her in, trying to keep her aggressor at distance with her feet and legs, but it was no use. The more she tried the more force he used on her. “Go on Barbie. I love it when they put up a fight.” He snarled into her ear as he got hold of her legs and pinned them down on the floor with one of his own.

There was nothing she could do now. With her hands tied behind her back and her legs pinned to the floor she was literally immobile.

She closed her eyes at the contact of one of his sweaty and coarse hands ran up her right thigh under the hem of her skirt. Tears ran uncontrolled down her face and all she could hear was her own erratic breathing. That was until his other hand grabbed her at her throat again slamming her head into the wall corner his face now only an inch from her own. Her whole head was throbbing with pain.

She could feel his foul breath hitting her nose only seconds before he pressed his mouth on hers. She used this opportunity to fight back the little she could and bit down hard on his lower lip. He immediately let go howling in pain and she couldn’t help but feeling a bit of satisfaction. He in return slapped her straight across the face with the back of his hand. “You little bitch!”

Just that instant the door opened again and another man came into the dark confinement. “Boss wants to see her now.”

She used the moment he loosened the hold of her legs to push back and hit him in his groin. That earned her another slap, but seeing the agonized expression on his face was worth the pain.

Both men heaved her from the floor and dragged her down a dimly lit corridor up a few steps until they were, as it seems, inside a hall of an old industrial building.

The men pushed her down to a chair and tied her arms to the back rest. Tockman was standing in the middle of the hall watching the scene in front of him with a sick amused grin on his face.

“Miss Smoak. Just the woman I’ve been waiting to see. So, how should we do this? Quick and painless or a bit more memorable for the cops when they find you eventually?” He spoke while weighing his hands one holding a gun and the other an odd looking object that looked like something out of a clock.

She could hear her heart racing in her ears trying to keep the panic rising inside her at bay.

“You don’t have to do this.” She pleaded with him.

“You are absolutely right, I don’t have to, but I want to.” Tockman was towering over her “See, you and your little green friend have become quite the disturbance for me and, well for my sponsor, so to speak” he looked down on her, playing with a loose strand of her hair.

“The deal is really simple, Miss Smoak” he talked with an unsettling calm tone in his voice, slowly moving the sharp tip of the minute hand across her throat along her collarbone. The minute head pressed into her skin more and more with every inch until it ripped her skin open and she couldn’t hold back an anguished scream any longer.

“I kill you and she will provide me with enough funds to take care of my personal business before I…”

She needed to buy herself some time and with this thought her mouth finally started to work again. “…before you die.” She ended his sentence for him.

If he was surprised he didn’t let it show. She continued “I know that you suffer from McGregor’s. So I assume the money isn’t for you because by the looks you don’t have that much time left. Your sister on the other hand” she couldn’t finish the sentence before the back of his right hand hit her straight in the face. The blast ripped her lip open again and the taste of blood filled her mouth. She winced, but continued to talk after a few seconds “She suffers from cystic fibrosis. She can use all the medical care she can get. You care about her. I understand.”

“NO, YOU DON’T” he yelled as his fist hit her jaw mercilessly knocking her unconscious.

**************

It was two hours into their search. TWO HOURS of wasted time! Oliver was getting even more frustrated than he was the minute he realized she’d been taken. They needed to find her and quick. He couldn’t control the thoughts that invaded his mind about what Tockman or one of his men might do to her. The single thought that one of them might actually laid their hands on her made his stomach cringe.

He just rounded the corner of one of the many abandoned industrial complexes in this part of the city a small shimmering object on the ground caught his eye. He moved forward and looked down to see what it was. He let out a ragged breath realizing what was lying in front of his feet – her glasses. It was just the same moment he heard Digg over the coms “Oliver, the signal is back up. We know where she is.”

“Stay where you are, I’m coming to you.” Oliver replied. He didn’t need the com to know that Dig was nearby. He could hear his voice from around the corner of the building. He hurried towards his partner arriving at the same time Sara did too.

They didn’t have time to come up with elaborate plan, but decided that a minimum of surveillance had to be done. 20 minutes later Oliver stood on the rooftop of the opposite building. There hadn’t been any movement outside since the got here. Inside he could only see was Tockman and two men standing beside the front entrance.

“I see two men at the front entrance and Tockman all armed with guns. Sara, Dig? Anything?” Both answers came back negative. Good. “I’m going over. You in position?” They had decided that with Oliver on the roof Sara would enter the building through the delivery entrance on the north side. Diggle taking the sublevel. Both confirming “In position”.

Oliver took a few steps to reach the momentum he needed to get to the other rooftop. Once landed he quickly walking round the glass roof to get a better look around the ground floor. Looking down from his new viewpoint he could see Felicity. She was bound to a chair her head was bent forwards her chin resting on her chest. He couldn’t see whether she was still breathing. But what he could see made his blood boil. Her blouse was torn apart below her shoulders on the right side a gaping wound ran along her collarbone.

He made his way inside the industrial building through on of the open skylights. “We need to move, fast!”

**************

The sharp smell of ammonia filled her nostrils and tore her out of her dreamless slumber. “Ah, Miss Smoak, you’re back with us. I really wanted you to be ‘present’ for the last act.”

He pulled out his gun and held it to her temple. “Well. As nice as chatting with you has been, Miss Smoak, but I am afraid your time is up.”

She closed her eyes waiting for the trigger to be pulled. She heard a gunshot, but instead of the dreaded impact hitting her she heard a pained cry right beside her. As she opened her eyes again she saw Tockman lying on the ground holding his right shoulder.

There was movement around her. In the distance she could see three persons fighting fist were flying through the air, bodies flinging at each other until only one of the three people was standing upright.

All of a sudden she could feel a tugging at her bonds and saw someone standing behind her. She whimpered when she saw the person move to her front. “Shh… Felicity… It’s me.” The voice calmed her down immediately. They came and they made it in time. She was going to be ok.

She closed her eyes feeling relieved beyond measure. Then she could feel two hands coming up to her face slowly sliding something over her ears and when she opened her eyes she could see again finally having her glasses back on. Oliver had crouched down to free her legs. She smiled down at him as he looked up.

His arms moved around her waist gently pulling her up from the chair into a tight embrace, but as much as she wanted she couldn’t come up with the strength to pull her arms up to hug him back. Every single fiber in her body hurt and all she wanted was a long hot shower and a bed and then another shower.

As if he’d read her mind he lifted her into his arms and carried her outside.

Diggle and Sara came out shortly after them. They took care of the three men inside making sure none of them would go anywhere until the cops arrived. And just as on cue they could hear sirens rapidly approaching.

“We should go.” Dig said looking at Felicity “you need to stay here, Felicity. Will you be ok?” she didn’t answer but looked to Oliver. He knew she’d rather go with them, but there was no other way this time.

He slowly lowered her down to the ground so she could rest her head against the brick wall still kneeling beside her. “Felicity, you’ve been abducted in a police station. We had no choice but to involve them… I will be up there” he pointed to the rooftop of the opposite building. “I will not let you out of my sight. And as soon as I can, I will be here again.” She understood.

She didn’t look at them, but nodded her agreement. She didn’t want to fight. And even if she did, she wouldn’t have the energy. She was beyond exhausted. Hell, she was even too tired to cry. “Let’s just get this over with.”

**************

He’d waited up on the rooftop until the very last second until the cops finally arrived at the scene and he knew that they’d take care of her. Their eyes fixated on each other the entire time. She’ll be ok. He thought to himself. He repeated that over and over in his head as he made his way over the rooftop to the opposite side of the building.

She didn’t know, but the time he told them that he couldn’t be the Hood anymore. That he couldn’t continue down this path he’d set for himself when he got home. That he couldn’t be this guy that killed people just because a book given to him by his father said that they’d deserved it. He didn’t just want to become someone else in honor of his best friend’s memory but also because of her. Because she’d told him that he could be this kind of man and he was proud that he kept his promise to her today.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so, so much for the kind responses to my last chapter... I immenslely appreciate it!
> 
> I want to take a minute thanking my cousin, who was really patient with me all the time while I harrassed her with questions, text excerpts and phone calls... I love you!!!

The next few hours right after she’d lost eye contact with Oliver were a blur for Felicity.

She couldn’t catch up with all that happened around her. Cops, paramedics, CSI-workers and whatnots swarmed around her, asked her questions she couldn’t or did not want to answer at that point.

It was overwhelming and embarrassing and it made her anxious. Her brain simply couldn’t process it all, but maybe it was for the better.

The paramedics had insisted she needed to lay down on the stretcher just as much as she at first had insisted that she really didn’t, but they had her outnumbered and after a few moments she’d given in to their demand.

She didn’t want to argue or to think any longer - she just wanted to sleep. And that’s exactly what she’d told Quentin Lance as he sat down beside her in the ambulance.

“It’ll all gonna be ok. You will be able to get some rest really soon, promise.” He told her as he took her hand in his while the paramedics put up an IV on her left arm and she started to feel drowsy almost instantly. “They gave you a small dosage of a sedative, Sweetheart. This will help you rest.” Quentin Lance explained before her eyes went shut and she dozed off into a deep dreamless slumber.

**************

The next thing she knew she lay in a warm and comfortable bed. The light in the room hurt through her closed eyelids. There was hushed movement beside her and she could hear muffled voices around her. But she couldn’t prompt herself to open her eyes. Her eyes were still too heavy and before she knew it she fell asleep again.

When she regained consciousness once more the previous nervous bustle had subsided and the room was dark and quiet.

She was still contemplating with herself whether she should open her eyes and return to reality as she felt a warm hand sliding under hers, fingers intertwining and warm skin pressing into her forearm.

It was the comforting feeling of warm skin and the soft tickling feeling of a stubble that finally had Felicity open her eyes. She turned her head to look at the source of her comfort, but almost the second she moved her head she regretted her action. Her head began to throb and a piercing pain shot down her throat making her groan.

The head resting on her forearm shot up and her gaze was met by her favorite pair of azure blue eyes. He looked weary but he had a smile on his face when he looked at her.

“Hi.”  He said almost in a whisper. She wanted to answer, but the word got stuck in her throat and all that came out was rasping sound and her throat felt as if hundreds of sharp needles pierced into it.

“Shhh, you don’t have to say anything… Just rest.” He said as he leaned back in his chair observing her with an intense look.

She only then realized how dry her mouth was. Her tongue felt like sandpaper against her gums. By instinct she reached out for the cup of water that stood on the bedside table, but Oliver stopped her midway.

“You… you shouldn’t do that... You’ve got … stitches on your shoulder” he wrapped his hand around hers with an agonized look on his face handing her the cup. Looking down she noticed the bandages covering her right shoulder.

He helped her sit up, bringing the head rest into a more upright position before she took a small sip of water from the cup, but it felt like she’d swallowed tiny shards of glass. She flinched, cautiously exploring the bruised skin around her throat.

He watched her nervously for a few seconds before he gently removed her hand from her throat enveloping it with his fingers.

“We should call the nurse. You’ve been out for a few hours and …” She squeezed his hand tightly letting him know that she didn’t need him to explain any further very aware that they both couldn’t handle it just now.

It only took a few seconds for a younger dark-haired woman with a bright face and a warm smile on her lips to enter the room after Oliver pressed the alarm. According to the nametag her name was Flavia.

She gently pushed Oliver out of the room before she went to work, checking Felicity’s vitals, changing her bandages on her shoulder. Just before she was about to apply ointment on Felicity’s neck and throat she handed her a spray bottle. “That’s Flurbiprofen” she explained “it helps with the swallowing.” Felicity took it gratefully.

The nurse was just about to put some antiseptic on the cuts on her lower lip and her cheek when she looked up into Felicity’s eyes giving her a sympathetic smile. “You’ve got a pretty persisting and protective boyfriend there.” She said. “He wouldn’t leave your side ever since you were brought in.”

Still not trusting her own voice Felicity only shook her head in response to the nurse’s implication, but she didn’t take notice and continued with her work, changing the bandages around her ankles and her wrists. Looking down, Felicity could see the angry red bruises the bonds left there.

After checking on the IV bags she looked down to her “I will call the doctor now, to talk to you.” With that she left the room and Oliver immediately came back in sitting down in the chair he sat before.

“Hey” she whispered – the spray obviously was working.

“Hi.” He looked worn out.

She turned her head over in his direction. “How long?” she asked low-voiced.

“Ten hours, give or take” he answered. She didn’t know what to say and just looked at him with an open mouth, “Oh”. But before she could ask more questions she could hear a knock on the door and - from the looks - the current doctor on duty entered her room.

“Hello, Miss Smoak, I’m Doctor Whitman. Glad to see you’re awake now.” He said while taking a second chair and sat down beside her bed opposite of Oliver.

“As you were unconscious when you were admitted here as well as during the first examinations. I would like you to tell me, what happened...” taking a look at both Felicity and Oliver seeing their unease he quickly amended “but if you don’t want to tell me, I will be happy to find you a female colleague to talk to – or if you’d rather talk to me alone…”

“Oliver stays.” Felicity quickly stated. Knowing how much Oliver already was on edge, making him leave was no option.

“Ok then.” The doctor replied. “Apart from a moderate concussion, the slash on your shoulder and several abrasions around your ankles and wrists there are also hematomas on your upper thighs.” She could hear Oliver breath heavily, but she didn’t dare to look at him.

“I’m sorry, Miss Smoak, but I have to ask. Have you been…”

“NO!” She interrupted him before he could speak any further.

“No… No one. No… One of them tried, but… No.” she cut herself short when she heard a sharp hiss coming from Oliver. She turned her head to look at him and reached out a hand to him which he immediately grabbed sliding his chair closer to the side of her bed. His other hand gently stroke over her hair.

The doctor too seemed relieved at her statement “good. I’m glad to hear that.” He admitted. “Now we also noticed two traces of blunt force trauma on the back of your head causing the concussion. How did that happen?”

Oliver’s grip on her hand tighten, but she didn’t mind. She needed something to ground her at that moment.

“He… this guy, he clutched my throat with his hand and… I, I couldn’t do anything… with my hands tied behind my back… and” she couldn’t continue. The pictures of that moment came crushing down on her and she could feel his tight grip around her throat again, squeezing it tightly until she was barely able to breathe in. She closed her eyes, trying hard to tame her erratically beating heart. She was on the verge of a panic attack.

She could hear Oliver’s voice from afar “We’re done here! Go!”

A door shut.

She felt the bed dip beside her only seconds before a strong arm drew her into a hug while another hand fondled soothing circles on her arm. “I’m sorry” he mumbled into her hair. “I’m so sorry”. Her breath finally evened out as she let the warmth of his body and the reaffirming touch wash over her.

What did he mean ‘sorry’? He shouldn’t be ‘sorry’ for anything. He and their friends just saved her today. He came for her, he found her, just as she knew he would, and he fucking saved her!! It made her mad. He really had a talent to turn a victory into something else – EVERY TIME. He wouldn’t get to do that this time. She wouldn’t let him.

She slowly but steadily withdrew herself from his embrace sitting up straight in her bed ignoring the irritating throbbing of her head. She took both his hands in hers locking his eyes with hers.

“No.” she exclaimed with her newly found strength. He looked at her aghast as she continued.

“You don’t get to do this. Not today, not with me. You don’t get to feel sorry this time. You saved me! Don’t you see? I’m here! Right here, because of you!”

He didn’t say anything. He just looked at her with an unreadable expression on his face.

“Oliver, can’t you see? I’m here, I’m ok…” she insisted.

“That’s not true!” he barked out at her. Finally a reaction. She took it gladly, knowing her words actually reached him.

“You’re not ok. Felicity! Stop saying you’re ok! You’re most definitely are not ‘ok’! You are everything but… You almost got…” he choked on his own words breaking eye contact focusing on their intertwined hands instead. His voice thick with unspoken emotions. But she wouldn’t let him win this one.

“What, Oliver? Raped? Killed?” She almost couldn’t believe the harsh words escaping her mouth, but it she knew, that that was exactly what he thought about. She knew exactly what was going on in this stubborn head of his. So she carried on, letting her head lean back against his chest.

“None of these things happened, Oliver do you hear me? NONE. Because of you.”

She scooted a bit on the bed to make more place for him. He took the hint and lay down beside her gently pulling her closer to his side. Her body immediately relaxed when she felt the warmth seep into her skin.

Her mind, however, was still spinning as Tockman’s words ghosted through her head

‘… my sponsor…’

She didn’t know what to make of it. What was that supposed to mean? That someone else entirely was behind all this? Should she tell Oliver or spare him this news for now?

No, she couldn’t. She needed to release him of this guilt he was carrying around, thinking that she was nearly killed today because of their nighttime activities.

“There is something else I need to tell you.”  She told him placing her free hand on his ribs, moving even closer to his side.

He tensed at her words, but didn’t let go of her. “Whatever it is, you can tell me.” He said into her hair.

She took a few deep breathes before she continued, not exactly sure how to explain it to him.

“I think Tockman wasn’t after me because I work for you, and by you I mean the green you.” She started her explanation. She could feel his body stiffen even more at her statement.

“What do you mean?” he asked in response.

She didn’t know how to answer that question. It was, after all, just a suspicion, but a strong one. And then she finally felt the effect of the medication, suddenly feeling drowsy.

“It’s just… a suspicion, ummm… Can we talk tomorrow?” she asked with a sleep-drugged voice unable to stifle a yawn. He didn’t answer right away, but after a few moments she could hear a muffled “ok” and a low humming sound from him.

He apparently needed the rest and the reassuring touch as much as she did in this moment. She was glad she didn’t have to ask him to stay with her.

**************

Felicity soon came to the realization that a healthy dose of sleep wasn’t something the hospital personnel had in mind for her and she’d been ok with it the first three times they’d woken her up. Really, it was ok. The fourth time she was just annoyed, but by the fifth time she was just pissed.

Oliver had too woken up every single time, mumbling some reassuring words into her ear. And as she tried to avoid the nurse’s fifth attempt to check her pupils and her vitals by hiding her head in his armpit mumbling some incoherent curses into the pillow he gently covered the back of her head with his hand.

She didn’t know what he’d done, but after a short moment she heard the door open and close again. He drew small gentle circles over the bumps as she dozed off again.

**************

The next time she woke up was to the sound of the door open again, but instead of her favorite new enemy by the name of Nurse Flavia, she saw two people standing at the foot of her bed and as she tentatively opened her eyes.

The young woman had a broad grin on her face and the man accompanying her also looked kind of bemused.

“Thea?” she asked bewildered “what? Why? Umm, Hi.” She said slowly understanding what this must look like to them with her still huddled up in Oliver’s arm. She blushed and the smile on Thea’s face broadened even more, clearly noticing her unease. She sat up quickly in her bed shivering at the sudden loss of warmth around her.

“Hey blondie. I’m glad to see you’re awake. I was really worried when I saw the news yesterday, but judging by the looks I worried for nothing...” She said with a wink before getting a bit more serious lowering her voice “he was worried sick last night when I called him.”

“Speedy, stop bothering her.” a sleepy voice called out behind her.

Oh, now he was awake too. Why not make it even more awkward…

“Ok, Mister Grumpy Pants! I didn’t come here to argue with my big Brother. We’re here to see Felicity, so back off! Oh, and by ‘we’ I mean me and Roy.” She gestured to the younger man standing behind her.

“Felicity, Roy. Roy, Felicity. Roy is my boyfriend and, well, Felicity is my brother’s ‘friend’” She could hear Oliver growling at his sister’s introduction as he slowly got out of her bed. Thank god he didn’t see her finger quoting her last statement. Felicity flushed even more at that.

She could feel Oliver slide out of bed behind her. “I’ll be right outside. I have to make some calls and talk to Diggle. You should drink something and lie back down.” He said to her gently squeezing her uninjured shoulder and pushing her back into the pillow. “I’ll arrange for breakfast to be sent to the room.” With that he stepped out of the room. Leaving her with his sister and a clearly uncomfortable boyfriend.

“I come bearing gifts!” Thea exclaimed enthusiastically, handing her the bouquet of lovely yellow lilies and purple roses as well as a huge pile of glossy magazines while sitting down he one of the chairs beside the bed.

She looked over to Roy “Could you go and ask for a vase to put them in for me, please?” He nodded and seemed relieved to finally be granted a chance get out of there as well. Felicity couldn’t blame him.

Felicity only now got to get a look around the room she was in. It was huge. Larger than her own bedroom, well the one in her apartment. The apartment she didn’t feel comfortable going back to. The bed too was larger than the normal hospital beds. She’d actually wondered how Oliver and she had fit in the same bed, but to be completely honest she just didn’t care last night.

As if Thea had sensed her revelation she looked at her “you’re in the private wing of Starling General. One of the benefits of being acquainted with the Queen family. Thinking of it, it might be one of the few benefits.” She amended in an incisive tone. “Anyway, this is not about my family… How are you? I mean, I’ve seen the news and heard what they said about a mad man kidnapping you from under the eyes of an entire police station.”

“I’m better.” Felicity said “a few bumps and bruises” deliberately leaving out the cut on her shoulder and going into any further detail. “You said it was on the news?” she tried to change the subject.

“Yeah, I mean at first I didn’t pay that much attention to it, honestly… It’s Starling City, right? But then there were pictures of Ollie all over the news entering the hospital holding a woman’s hand that lay on a stretcher and I recognized it was you – well so did the reporters, obviously…” Thea explained.

“Wait, WHAT?”

That came out louder than Felicity had intended to and she immediately regretted it. Not only did it make her throat burn like she’d just swallowed a still blazing marshmallow, but the same second the words left her mouth Oliver rushed back into her room.

Why couldn’t she just catch a break…

“What happened? Speedy! I told you not to upset her!” he almost yelled at her from the other side of her bed.

“Oliver! She didn’t… not intentionally… I’m sorry, I just overreacted… I just need my tablet or my phone...” but then she remembered… the left behind purse… the shattered phone in the alley.

Just as she was about to surrender when Oliver held out something in his hands right in front of her eyes that made her gasp. Her tablet.

She looked up to him in complete surprise. How? But at that moment she decided that would be one of the questions for later.

Right now, she wanted answers.

She booted her tablet, instantly regretting her own curiosity as she went through the alerts, reading all the headlines from various tabloid sites:

**“Queen to the rescue!”**

**“Queen Consolidated Exec. Assistant abducted”**

**“Oliver Queen’s new damsel in distress?”**

**“Who is Felicity Smoak?”**

**“Oliver Queen entering hospital beside rumored new Girlfriend”**


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hy guys!
> 
> I am back with this story here - it only took me 7 months to overcome my writer's block; YAY me!! LOL  
> I hope you will like the direction in which this story will be going... The next chapter is also almost finished. Which is the reason for the change of the rating.

 

 

 _It was time for Plan B. Fortunately this annoying little pseudo-blonde had a talent that_ _even_ _surpassed her hacking skills - and that was making her some powerful enemies._

\----------------------------------------------------------------------

 “Oh my god!” she gasped out shuffling the tablet back to Oliver, not wanting to see anymore.

She felt violated and sick. She knew that the boulevard press would use any chance they got at what they thought would classify as a ‘juicy’ story about the Queens. More often than not she found herself snickering at the far-fetched headlines about Oliver, knowing for certain that they were either totally misinformed or outright lying. But this… This was outrageous!

She watched him as he looked at her tablet’s display not giving away any emotion. She wanted to slap him. How could he just stand there, their ‘supposed’ relationship on display without even a twitch?

“How can you just stand there, Oliver? This is...”

She needed to get out of this room. Now!  Her mind was set on revenge. These sleazy tabloids would regret the day they started to mess with Felicity Smoak. She would hunt - well, hack - them down one by one and none of them would even know what had hit them.

Her body started to move out of bed before her mind even registered it. She had just stood up from the bed as two hands firmly pushed her back down on the mattress. Oliver stood in front of her. He had thrown the tablet to the foot of the bed.

“Felicity, look at me.” he said, tilting her chin up and locking his eyes with hers “I know exactly what you are thinking of right now, but this is not the time to worry about some small-time journalism, ok?”

“You know? Ollie’s right. I’m sure this’ll all blow over in a week tops” Thea tried to reassure her.

She didn’t buy it however. She needed to do something about it and she needed to get out of this hospital, sooner rather than later. Her eyes started to wander over to the tablet on the bed.

“ _Fe-li-ci-ty_! Stop it.” his voice sounding slightly irritated.

She just huffed and looked back up to him raising her hands in mock surrender.

“Ok. But I really have to go to the bathroom, any objections to that as well?”

He just rolled his eyes at her and stepped to the side holding out a bag. “Some of your clothes, I had Dig pick them up at ho… the penthouse. I hope you don’t mind.” he explained.

She gave him a bright smile in response making her way to the ensuite bathroom with the bag in one hand and grabbing the IV-pole with the other as he watched her cautiously, ready to jump to her side in case she needed his help.

**************

An hour later Thea and Roy had left and the doctor had shown up again, telling her that they would be releasing her the next day, but that she still had to rest for at least another three to four days. A little later the IV was gone as well and she finally could move a little more freely in her bed.

A short moment, after she finally got rid of all the restraints, Diggle opened the door and took the second seat beside her bed, but not before giving her a careful hug.

It felt good to finally be in the same room with her two boys again. Taking a deep breath she sunk back into the pillow and made herself comfortable, feeling as safe as possible right in that moment.

“I’m just glad that you're ok and we caught that son of a bitch who was behind it all this.” Dig stated after a few moments of silence.

She looked over to the two men sitting beside her bed. “Yeah, about that…” as both heads shot up and two pairs of eyes looked at her intently.

“I, I don’t know, but, ummm... Tockman said something - it might be nothing. Maybe I’m reading too much into this... I don’t know…” she stuttered, still not sure whether or not she should tell them about her suspicion.

“What is it?” Oliver urged her on. He clearly hadn’t forgotten about the moment she’d tried to tell him the previous night.

Taking a deep breath she continued “Tockman said something about a ‘sponsor’... I think someone hired him to do - you know - what he did...” she looked at both men expectantly.

Neither of them responded with anything, they just looked at her, watching her, waiting for her to continue.

“You know what? Nevermind... It might be nothing. Right?” she amended burying her head deeper into the pillow, staring at the ceiling as her fingers started to mindlessly trace the outlines of the now slightly itchy stitches along her collarbone.

Dig was the first one to speak up as he gently cradled her hand in his two big ones removing it from where it hovered over her new scar “do you think it’s nothing?”

She looked at him for a long moment as Tockman’s words kept repeating in her head like a curse

“No” she simply replied.

She closed her eyes as she tried hard to get the taunting voice out of her head.

“Then you should listen to your instinct.” he concluded, leaving a heavy silence standing in the room right before she dozed off once more.

**************

As if her two day stay at the hospital hadn’t already been exasperating enough, the next few days where downright infuriating. There was not one moment during the day Felicity had to herself.

Either Oliver was there constantly reminding her to rest and to at least eat a little bit, to the point she’d reminded him in her loud voice that she, in fact, was a big girl, who could easily decide for herself whether or not she was hungry or tired... or, if Oliver wasn’t around it was Dig, who - praise him - stayed out of her hair for the most part, although he would constantly kept an eye on her while pretending to watch television.

Even Thea came by with a whole stack of nail polishes as well as all necessary equipment for a professional mani-pedi session. Not that she complained. It actually was a nice change for once and she really started to enjoy the company of the youngest Queen.

“Did Oliver put you up to this?” Felicity suddenly blurted out in the middle of their session, just as Thea was about to apply the dark emerald green nail polish on to her right little toe.

Slowly finishing finishing the job, Thea closed the bottle of polish before glancing up to her, throwing her a pointed look.

“What if he did?”

She was right, so what if he did. But then again, why would he put his sister up to the task?

She shrugged “Just wondering if he would go as far as making his little sister babysit me, that’s all.”

“Yeah, right…” Thea responded with a wide grin on her face. “But in all honesty and seriousness - yes, he asked me if I wanted to come over and keep you company for a bit. I think he’s concerned about you. I think he said something about cabin fever.”

Felicity raised an eyebrow at her comment. “well, let’s just for one second pretend that he did say that - which I’m sure he didn’t - maybe he wouldn’t have to worry so much if he’d just get out of my hair…”

“Ok. I might have added the cabin fever part… But, that doesn’t change the fact that he is genuinely worried about you. I know that Oliver can be annoying at times, even frustrating, but he wouldn’t do that if he didn’t care about you… and I do too. So, yes, he called me, but I am here on my own accord.” the young Queen offered her explanation. “And besides, anything is better than being home right now… Not that spending time with you is bad…”

Felicity looked at her with a compassionate smile “have you talked to her yet?” trying to let Thea know that she was there to listen if she wanted to talk.

“No and I am not planing on it in the foreseeable future.” Thea gave her a weak smile back

“Ollie told about the number she pulled on you…” she looked down at the bottle with bright turquoise nail polish in her hands for a few seconds before she continued “I don’t know what to think of her anymore. First she helps to lay the Glades to ashes - and yeah, she might have the jury convinced she had her reasons… She made me forgive her.” the young woman added with a sour expression on her face.

“And you know what?” her voice suddenly rising with every syllable she spoke “just as I thought I could start to trust her again, I learn that my dad wasn’t actually my dad. That instead my father was a certified psychopath and killer who killed his own son, my half-brother, who I had a huge crush on! I had a crush on my half-brother! I am the daughter of two murderers with an incestuous crush on my half-brother! That is how fucked-up I am!”

Felicity could see her body crumple as tears started to fall down her face. She could only imagine how all these revelations felt, as her heart went out to the young woman sitting in the middle of her bed, her body shaking with all the tears.

Felicity shot up from her position, ignoring the tugging along her scar as she grabbed both hands and gently pulled Thea into a tight embrace laying her sore body back against the pillows with the young woman - her friend, in her arm as her tears started to fall freely.

“You know…” Felicity spoke into the crown of Thea’s head “If there’s one thing I strongly believe in, it’s that our parents may set paths for us and guide us along these paths, but they are not who define us and you will find your own way. You will...”

She could hear a soft knock on the open bedroom door. Looking up he could see Oliver standing in the doorway looking concerned at the scene that presented itself in front of his eyes.

Felicity gave him a re-affirming smile as she held Thea close against her chest, drawing soothing circles against her back, letting him know that she had this. She had his sister and she would make sure she was ok.

**************

She could feel the tension in the room as she walked downstairs an hour later, after Thea had finally fallen asleep in her bed, noticing Diggle and Oliver sitting on the sofa, both looking in the same direction with concern. Following their eyes she found the source of the weird vibrations in the room. “Captain Lance?” she asked as she stepped closer to the three men. “To what do we owe the pleasure?”

All three men stood up once they noticed her presence, Oliver immediately at her side, guiding her to the sofa so she would sit between him and Diggle.

She looked around to the three men once they were all seated again. “What’s wrong?” she asked, looking from Diggle to Oliver over to Lance, watching him take a deep breath as he moved to the edge of the chair with an uneasy expression

“First of all - how are you feeling?”

“Ok, I guess…” Felicity shrugged, not really keen on talking about it “Detective, I don’t mean to sound rude, but why are you here?” she decided to end the subject of her wellbeing.

Lance looked at her with a gentle smile. He obviously understood her sudden change of subject.

“Well, as I am sure you already heard, Tockman was found dead in his cell yesterday morning… The news leaked this morning…”

She gasped out loud. There went their one chance of finding out who was after her.

“I thought you…” he swallowed the rest of the sentence after looking at Oliver at the same time she glanced over to him.

His look spoke volumes. He already knew. He knew and he didn’t tell her...

“Anyway.” Lance cleared his throat. “I thought you deserved as much as hearing it from me personally. There isn’t much we know yet. CSI found a box of prescription drugs in his cell. They're running tests on it as we speak. He either poisoned himself or he was murdered...”

So that was it. They were back at square one. With the one man who might have had any knowledge about the person behind her abduction dead they would be hunting a phantom.

She shot up from her spot on the sofa, ignoring Oliver’s hand that tried to hold her back from moving away.

“So it’s over then.” she concluded as she moved over to the window front, looking out over the city, her arms tightly wrapped around her body “we will never find out why he did what he did.” she fought back the tears that were threatening to overwhelm her and the hot white burn that crawled up her throat.

“I’m really sorry, Felicity.” she heard movement behind her, the Detective’s voice coming from close behind her. “I promise to let you know, if something new comes up.”

She didn’t move or respond in any way, unable to, even when she heard the elevator doors closing behind her. Her mind was still racing when she noticed a gentle hand on her back. “I’m sorry - we should’ve told you… And I understand if you are mad right now, just… We…”

“You.” Diggle cleared his throat from somewhere in the kitchen.

“Ok.” Oliver corrected “I thought it would be better for you if you had a few more days to recover. I’m sorry.”

She didn’t respond immediately to his words. She knew why he didn’t mention it. He was worried about her, if anything that became painfully clear over the last few days and the way he’d nearly smothered her and she had, in more than one situation, expressed her exasperation about it to him. Which in turn left her feeling guilty every time she looked into his eyes right before he left her alone like she had requested him to do.

This situation wasn’t easy, not just for her, but for him as well. She knew that - she just didn’t know how to handle it. But right now Felicity was more than thankful for his presence.

“I’m not mad.” she said after a while, leaning into his side as her grip around her body loosened.

Instead she wrapped her arm around his waist and grabbed his shirt in a tight grip seeking comfort in the warmth his body radiated as he gently pulled her closer to his side.

“I understand why you didn’t want me to know.” she craned her neck to look up to him “and I know you mean well… It’s just...” she reluctantly let go of where her hand had anchored herself to him when she realized that her body needed to sit down again. She took one of his hands in hers and made her way back to the sofa.

Still holding his hand once they both had found a comfortable spot on the sofa she continued.

“First of all; I am sorry.” giving him a silent sign to just hear her out before he had a chance to to object to her words “I know that I am not the easiest patient… But I want you to know that I appreciate what you are doing. It just… It’s not easy for me to accept help, Oliver.

“I moved out from home to the other side of the continent when I was 16 to attend college. I’ve handled everything on my own. I learned not to rely on anyone but myself… I guess that’s something we can both relate to, right?”

“Why do I have the feeling that you are going to ask something of me that I won’t like?” Eyeing her skeptically - already dreading where this talk was heading.

“Ha!” Diggle laughed out from his place at the kitchen counter, clearly overhearing their conversation. Oliver’s head snapped around to consider his partner with a piercing glare.

“What won’t you like?” a voice came from upstairs before Thea made her way down to the living room curiously observing the scene in front of her. “What’s going on?”

Felicity huffed out a tiny chuckle as she let go of Oliver’s hand only to realize that he held hers just the same. And unlike her, he didn’t let go.

“Felicity has Oliver cornered into releasing her from house arrest…” Diggle offered with a more than amused grin on his face making

Thea snorted in response. “Oh - I wanna see how that plays out!” she hopped on one of the bar stools beside Diggle and looked over to the two of them, giving her brother a cheeky grin in response to the glare he threw at both of them from the sofa.

“Ok, first of all” Felicity turned her head towards the kitchen and considered them with the same look Oliver just had “no one corners anyone here. No corners here, at all. And secondly” she turned her attention to the still beaming Thea “aren’t you supposed to be at the club right now? You know, like actually doing your job?”

“Yeah…” Thea shrugged in response “eventually - but not until I see how this plays out.” Felicity only rolled her eyes at her before she returned her attention to Oliver.

“As I was about to say… I will go back to work tomorrow.”

“Felicity.”

“No, Oliver. This isn’t up for discussion. I am going crazy in here. I am not used to all of the attention.”

“Ummm - Felicity?” Thea interrupted her “I am sorry to be the one bringing the news, but the simple fact that the headlines through some kind of miracle disappeared from the web - which I am sure was your doing - does not mean that there aren’t about 50 paparazzi currently camping outside this and the QC building. Sooo, you might want to get used to the attention part.”

“WHAT? Why did no one tell me about that?” Felicity looked from Oliver to Diggle before her glare landed on Thea.

“Hey! Don’t look at me like this. I am just the messenger!”

“We gotta fix this, Oliver!”

“Damn, she’s scary like that.” she could hear Thea mumble at Dig who all but nodded.

“This is not funny! I will need to find a new place to stay. I need to fix this! Would you please say something!” she tugged at Oliver’s hand.

He blinked at her, looking from his hand she was currently tugging at up to her face. He knew he had to say something, he wanted to say something - starting with how much of a bad idea it was to already throw herself back at work. But the fact that she’d just loudly announced that she would be looking for another place to stay, for reasons he couldn’t explain, had caught him totally off guard.

This was bound to happen at some point… This loft, as nice as it was, was always meant to be a temporary solution, not only for her, but for him too. He knew that - the rational part of his brain knew that, but that didn’t change the fact that he, for the first time since he got back from the island, thought about a place as a home. Whenever he stepped through the elevator doors, he felt at home.

He hadn’t paid that feeling a lot of thought until just now, but there was no way denying it. He felt at home, even in this very moment with Thea and Diggle there he did and looking at her, he knew that her being there with him played a large role. Knowing she was there and safe made him feel at peace and it made the fact that none of his attempts at finding out about any possible connection that could have in any way tied Tockman to her failed at least bearable.

“Why?” he heard his voice the moment the one word that he could think of left his lips.

He knew he needed to say something more, anything really. Tell her that he wanted her to stay, that he needed her to stay. Not for himself, but for her own good, for her safety.

“Oliver?”

“I - How about we go to work tomorrow and we’ll see how it goes?” he offered, unwilling to deal with the other issue right there and then.

“Ok.” Felicity considered him with a bright smile “and then I will start looking for a new place!”

She stood up from the sofa throwing him another beaming smile as she made her way to her room to get her tablet. Mumbling something about wanting to check her e-mails in order to be, at least, a little bit prepared for the coming day.

“You are so screwed, brother.” Thea snickered. “It’s not even funny anymore.” bursting out in loud laughter at his ‘I-have-no-idea-what-you-are- talking-about-but-you-better-shut-the-fuck-up’ glare.

He really was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And like always:  
> leave me a comment (of course I also like Kudos) let me know what you think! I will try to respond to all of them... Or come and say hi to me on Twitter (@NoDecaff4Me)


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, here's another chapter of this story... I hope you'll like what you read.
> 
> I owe a huge THANK YOU to @Vixx2pointOh for her support and beta-ing this chapter... I think she won't be volunteering again any time soon... XD

Only five hours into her first day back she had already started to question her decision, which - if she was honest wasn’t a very thought through decision. It was more of a challenge, one as much for herself as it was meant to be for Oliver.

She wanted to get out of these four walls as much as she needed him to understand that it was ok for them to get back to normal - or at least to what they considered normal these days.

At first she’d actually thought that it would all be ok.

Both of them went to work together. Her body already invigorated with the much needed caffeine-dose in the form of a large cup of really good and strong (not to mention ridiculously expensive) Hawaiian Kona coffee Oliver had already prepared for her as she came downstairs in the morning.

They had even by-passed the intimidating large crowd of reporters outside the building by driving straight away into the parking garage and were up on the executive floor in no time, and - given the look on Oliver’s face - that was something not only Felicity was extremely grateful for.

She didn’t even mind the huge workload that had greeted her on her desk. It would only help her mind stay away from other thoughts and that was just what she had wanted. It wasn’t until a loud grumble from her stomach made her pause in the middle of reviewing the quarterly Financial Report and the time display on her screen confirmed that it already was time for lunch.

Without giving it a second thought she grabbed her purse from her bag and headed to the cafeteria a few stories down to get something she could eat at her desk.

There were still too many things to be cleared up, appointments to be set up and research to be done, all of which wouldn’t allow for her normal stroll to her favorite little bakery down the road. Well - that and the reporters still lingering outside the building.  

Finding the the right choice of food to satisfy her still loudly complaining stomach wasn’t an easy feat that day, not with her mind still set on her favourite roasted turkey and avocado BLT. That might have been the reason she at first didn’t notice the hushed voices around her. She hadn’t noticed until she was standing at the check-out counter with her Caesar salad and a simple sourdough bun in her hands. People were staring at her, exchanging hushed words… It only took a short glance over to the newspaper stand beside the counter to understand why; she might have been able to get rid of every online article about her and Oliver, but there was nothing she could do about print editions and her face and name along with his headlined almost all of them.

**************

“Hey!” his voice greeted her from a few steps outside her office as he made his way towards her from the elevator at 1.30 in the afternoon after his meeting with possible new investors for the company.

“I know it’s a bit late, but how about lunch?” he asked, glad to see her at her desk.

After the meeting he had attended together with Isabel he was in need of a familiar friendly face and looking at her in that moment he couldn’t think of anyone he wanted to see more.

The moment he stepped over the threshold though he immediately noticed that something was off. She seemed to be deep in thought, but not like she usually was. Usually there was some very animated and furious tapping involved when she was zoning everything around her out and if she was occupied in studying something she’d still be tapping her feet along an imaginary rhythm of a song he usually didn’t even know the title to. This was different.

“Unless you have already grabbed a bite?” he continued cautiously, looking at the discarded and untouched salad in her trash bin. Something must have happened while he was in conference all morning. He moved a little closer to her desk so he could see what her eyes had been fixated on since he got out of the elevator.

He found his answer the moment his eyes drifted over the top of her desk. There lay 3 newspapers, Felicity’s fingers drawing random patterns over the paper. He couldn’t see the headlines of all of them, but if they were anything like the one on top he knew exactly what had happened to her appetite and he could feel the white hot burn of unadulterated rage rise more and more inside his body with every syllable of the headline he read.

**_‘Felicity Smoak - The inscrutable Climb of an ordinary Las Vegas Waitress to Starling City’s most notorious Playboy’s new favorite Toy’_ **

“Felicity?”

Taking another step closer he carefully removed the newspapers from under her hands and, without looking at them a second time, threw them into the bin on top of her discarded lunch. She looked up at him then, lips pursed and brows furrowed.

“I was 15, Oliver! 15! And I only did it during summer to earn some money for a new Laptop I needed for college! I went to MIT, goddammit! Not that I think that waitressing is anything to be ashamed of… My mom still is and she worked her ass off in double shifts to get us through after my father left us. She was the one who made MIT even possible for me… But they make it sound so cheap! Like it’s something I should be ashamed of”

“And all these people down in the cafeteria… You should have seen their looks and the whispers! Until today they at least tried to be discrete about whispers and the exchanged looks...”

“Come on.” he grabbed her by her hands and gently pulled her out of her chair. “Let’s get out of here. Get something to eat.”

Of course he knew about the rumors and not only because Isabel had rubbed it under his nose every chance she got… but also because people in this company weren’t very subtle hiding it. They at least tried, like Felicity had said, but they surely weren’t discrete and like a fool he had hoped that she wouldn’t notice any of it.

No, that wasn’t true. He had only made himself hope she didn’t, to help him keep his guilty conscience in check, the one he had since the day he had made her his assistant.

“I’m not hungry anymore.” she responded as her eyes wandered over to the discarded papers in the waste bin.

“Then let’s just take a walk. Some fresh air would be good for both of us…”

Felicity was about to protest that idea, but before she could a series of loudly clicking high heels on the marble floor interrupted her.

“I am sorry to interrupt your…” Isabel looked at the two of them, locking her eyes on their still intertwined hands “whatever this is…” she shot both of them an unamused look. “There’s someone here who wants to see us.”

“Laurel?” Oliver’s eyes moved over to her questioningly.

He had seen her the moment she’d left the elevator together with Isabel, but had considered it a coincidence until this moment, although he couldn’t think of any reason why she would even be here.

“I am here on official business.” Laurel stated, taking a few steps until she stood beside the other brunette.

“There has been some development in Mister Tockman’s demise that I would like to discuss with you.” she said, looking at Oliver.

“Your father already told us yesterday. Tockman obviously died of an overdose?” Felicity uttered.

“Oliver, we should talk in private.” Laurel shot Felicity a cold glare before her attention went back to him.

“This is private, Laurel. This is the executive floor. There’s no one else around.”

“She’s talking about me, Oliver.” his head shot over to Felicity at her observation, their eyes locking in a silent conversation. “You should just take this conversation into your office.”

“No. Whatever you want to tell me you might as well say it now, because I will tell Felicity anyway.” he moved closer to Felicity at his own words, meaning everything he had just said. He wasn’t willing to withhold anything about this from her.

“Fine.” She sat down her briefcase and folded her arms in front of her chest. “We got back the toxicology report this morning. Turns out, he wasn’t poisoned. He died of heart failure due to an overdose of benzodiazepine. A call to his physician revealed that he never prescribed benzos to Tockman. He also told us that with Tockman’s progressed muscle weakness an even smaller dose would have killed him.”

“And what has this to do with QC or any of us, Laurel?”

“Someone hacked into the servers at Iron Heights and meddled with Tockman’s medical files. The SCPD were able to backtrace the break-in and the trail led us right to your company’s servers.

“We are currently waiting for the Judge to sign the necessary search warrant. I am here to give you a heads up and to let you know that the DA will most likely launch a murder inquiry.”

Felicity shuddered for a second when Laurel’s eyes landed on her again, but she held her gaze for a long moment until, finally, Laurel turned towards Isabel.

“I already assured Miss Lance that we will do anything in our power to support the police’s investigations.” the other brunette informed them. “I will personally make sure the police will get all the help they need from us - You make sure the meeting in Coast City will go ahead as planned.” she amended with a pointed look over to Oliver.

And just as unceremoniously as they had entered the room they left again, as the sinking feeling in Felicity’s stomach grew bigger and bigger. Someone was planting bread crumbs and they lead directly to her.

Why on earth had she thought that going back to work was a good idea...

**************

_3 days later..._

It was all her fault. She should have known better than this. Insisting on coming here was a bad idea and she sure as hell should not be down there all by herself, which she knew she would be with Dig running errands for ARGUS and Oliver up in the club helping his sister out. She had insisted nevertheless, just like the stubborn pigheaded woman she was, she did it anyway, ignoring Oliver’s and Dig’s protests.

There was work to be done and now, after she’d finally cleaned up the mess that Tockman had made with his - and she hated to admit - impressive hack into her system, she could finally start with that. Besides that, she had also been eager to get back into her cosy chair in front of her monitors in the lair, back to that one familiar spot she’d always felt comfortable.

Sure, she’d started to work again in the familiar surrounding of the company she’d been working at for the last four years, but with what had happened at lunch and Laurel’s visit the first day she was back, calling that place comfortable was a real stretch - even with Oliver by her side.

But at least she could get her mind off of things for a few hours. The things her mind kept spinning around the moment they got home and she tried to relax.

‘Home’ that word had a funny ring to it. She didn’t even know what that word meant anymore.

A few days ago she had considered her small but cosy two bedroom apartment to be her home. It was the one place she never had to pretend, a space where she could just be herself, where she could just be the tiny and awkward but brainy girl from Las Vegas. A young and intelligent woman, who at the age of 19 left MIT with not only one but two masters degrees in her pocket, who loved spending her free time reassembling computers or catching up on the latest shows on her DVR with a pint of mint chip ice cream and a glass of red wine.

But there she was - without any ice cream or wine - underneath a night club on a busy Thursday night working (or rather trying to) on her computers, running all necessary updates and setting up searches in a first attempt to find whoever was after her.

And that was just the problem. Not only did she not know who was after her or why. She also still had no idea how on earth she had found herself on the radar of a psychopathic killer or the the equally, if not more so, psychopathic person who had hired him to get rid of her and she was already feeling agitated when a loud rattle at the door upstairs made her jump out of her chair, her heart pulsing in her head and her hand instinctively covering her still sore skin over her collarbone. The rational part of her brain told her that this wasn’t the first time this had happened. On more than one occasion some drunk and horny couples had tried to find a private spot to continue whatever it was they had started on the dancefloor, but when for the second time an especially hard knock at the door echoed through the entire basement she felt the shiver down to her core. She had to get out of there.

She grabbed her stuff and climbed the few steps out of the lair, taking a few calming breaths before she quietly entered the club which, unsurprisingly, was still crowded with people and made her way over to the bar. Sitting down in one of the vacant chairs at the bar she looked down at the still visible marks on her wrists. They had changed colours from dark purple and black to a mix of green, blue and yellow, the colours somehow standing even more out in the dim mix of blacklight and the running lasershow.

She absentmindedly traced the outlines of the mark on her left wrist with her fingertips when suddenly a hand grabbed her other wrist and pulled her from her bar stool. She looked up in shock seeing a dark haired man standing right in front of her considering her with a sleazy grin “a pretty girl like you shouldn’t have to be all by herself.” taking another step closer to her. “we might as well can have a little fun with each other.”

She tried to free herself from the grasp the man had on her wrist. He was invading her private space as he talked to her, she could feel his hot breath on her neck and the acrid smell of alcohol filled her nose, but she couldn’t hear another word coming out of his mouth, all she could hear was white noise as she stared at her wrist still held in a firm grip by the man in front of her. The words she had heard a few days earlier spinning in her head.

 _‘I love it when they put up a fight…’_ she closed her eyes in a desperate attempt to shut out the pictures flashing through her mind, but there they were. She could see the other man’s face, could almost feel the fingers on her thighs and around her neck trying to suffocate her. She couldn’t breathe. She needed to get away, but he’d trapped her between his arms and the counter and she could feel his breath on her skin. _‘You little bitch!’_ She struggled to get out of the man’s grasp when suddenly a hand from behind got a hold on her left shoulder and that finally set her body into motion.

She twisted her wrist in his grasp and yanked it free, just like Dig had showed her, and just for a brief moment she was amazed that some of the training had actually stuck in her mind.

She brought up her right arm and punched the guy as hard as she could, aiming her fist at in his throat. She could feel his grip around her instantly loosening and his knees give out before she ran as fast as she could towards the restrooms a little down the dimly lit hallway. She got in quickly and shut the door to one of the stalls behind her just in time before her legs gave out under her body and she sled to the floor.

Then there they were, hot tears sliding down her cheeks, the tears that she’d been holding back ever since Oliver, Dig and Sara had rescued her from a sure death by the hands of William Tockman.

All the emotions came crushing down on her all at once. The terror she’d felt when one of the men had tried to have his way with her to the agonizing pain when Tockman scarred her skin with the minute hand, the fear of dying there and then bound to a cold metal chair in this cold and damp foundry, without being able to tell the people closest to her goodbye…

She couldn’t hold back the sobs that escaped her throat leaving her shaking on the cold paving tiles while the pictures of hands all over her body, hitting her face, grabbing her neck and her hair… of minute hands and guns pointing at her head assaulted her mind over and over again.

She wanted to scream, wanted to hit something. She wanted all of this to end. But with Tockman out of the picture, murdered in Iron Heights and planted trails leading straight to her, she didn’t even know where to begin with her search. That’s what got her agitated in the first place this evening - realizing that she didn’t have a single clue about who would want her dead.

She did nothing but hit dead ends and it annoyed her to say the least. She felt helpless and devastated.

All of that had brought her to the situation she was in right now, huddled up on the cold floor in a bathroom stall of a nightclub while others were dancing and drinking their night away. And it was all her fault!

As her breathing finally started to calm down she could hear the voices of the other women who must have just witnessed her appearance in the ladies’ room, hearing loud chuckling and amused laughter from behind her.

“Did you see her? Wasn’t that Queen’s supposed newest trophy in his collection?” one of them cackled.

“she doesn’t look at all as someone Oliver Queen would be interested in. I mean come on. A dorky small blonde with geeky glasses? He has better taste than this, right?”  another simply stated.

“I didn’t know he was into charity work!” a third voice added before all of them burst into spiteful laughter.

She would’ve never listened to them any other time, but right at this moment redirecting her attention to their comments was better than the thoughts that ran through her mind. She needed this distraction, no matter how unpleasant it was to listen to them.

It was a few moments into their discussion about her appearance and how unthinkable the idea of her and the one and only Oliver Queen was that the door crashed open. Their voices immediately falling silent right before she could hear the clicks of high heels moving out of the room just before before she noticed a hesitant knock on the door her back was rested against.

“Felicity? You in there?” she heard a soft and low voice - Roy…

Just as she was about to respond she heard another very insisting voice invading the room - Oliver. “Where is she?”

“I’m here…” she responded through the still shut stall door not recognizing her own voice, which sounded throaty and unsure.

“Felicity, please open the door… Please open the door so I can get you out of here.” she heard his almost pleading words as she tried to grasp the last bits of her dignity and - once she she got off the floor - opened the door with still shaky hands.

Looking up the only thing she could see was a pool of azure blue eyes staring at her with so much worry and uncertainty it almost took her breath away.

Without thinking twice she brought her arms up grabbing his neck, tugging him close to her so she could bury her face in the fabric of his shirt. She clinged on to him as if her life depended on it. Not caring about the way it looked or what others might think, she needed this, she needed him to ground her, once more.

Oliver pulled her closer to his side enveloping her back with one arm, his hand cupping the back of her head as she buried her face deeper into the fabric of his shirt still unable to shake the cruel images swarming her mind as he led her out of the club through one of the emergency exits.

Just as they made their way to his parked car outside the club they could hear a voice calling out to them, turning around they could see Thea running up to them.

“Felicity! Are you ok? I mean… Everything ok with you? I heard what happened at the bar, Roy told me.”

Felicity didn’t reply, she didn’t know how to without bursting into tears again - and she wanted to spare them all the awkwardness, so instead she just stared at the younger Queen with an uncertain look.

“I’m sorry… The dirt bag is banned for live… Sara, threw him out. Head first. I, umm, I just wanted to give you back your purse you left at the bar… We’ll talk soon, ok?” Thea concluded tightly squeezing her hand before she slumped down into the passenger’s seat of Oliver’s car, just glad to finally be out of that place and still wondering how on earth she had considered going down here alone a good idea in the first place.

Feeling relieved as they, at last, left Verdant behind them, she looked out of the side window as the lights drifted past her view and she was finally able to close her eyes without any of the horrible pictures buzzing in her head.

She didn’t know how long she had closed her eyes for, but when she opened them the next time and looked out of the window there was nothing but darkness outside. Turning her head she could see Oliver still driving, his sole focus on the road ahead of him.

For a brief second she considered asking him about where they were headed. She glanced over to him for a second, but she couldn’t find herself to care enough to ask the actual question. The fact that Oliver was by her side was all she needed to know in that moment.

“We’re almost there. I think you’ll like it.” he said with a small smile on his lips almost as if he had read her mind, but not saying anything more as they drove for another twenty minutes before he turned the car into a small cartway and followed it for another ten or something minutes.

She’d lost track of time the moment she’d made herself comfortable in the car seat back at Verdant.

She closed her eyes again, concentrating on the humming of the engine and the rhythmic verberation of the car, only opening them again once the car came to a halt. She again looked up to him the confusion clearly displaying on her face as he turned to face her as well.

“Trust me?” he asked.

“Always.” she returned, which earned her a genuine smile from him.

She still didn’t know how, but she did, she trusted him like no one else. She had, right from the start.

Even before she knew his secret. She had trusted him. All those times he would bring up these ridiculous lies about bullet perforated laptops or energy drinks in syringes, she never - not even for one split second - questioned his trustability. She knew he was lying to her (and he was so ridiculously bad at it), but somehow she always knew that she could trust him. Even knowing that there was still so much he hadn’t told them about his time away. She didn’t mind. Everyone had their secrets, their pasts they didn’t like to talk about - she sure as hell had parts of her life she wasn’t ready to talk about to anyone, not even to him.

“C’mon, let’s get out of the car” he prompted while grabbing something from the back seat, while she opened the door and got out of the car without second guessing taking in deep breaths of crisp fresh air before she joined him in the front of his car where he was waiting for her patiently.

He grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the car, leading her along a small gravel path. It took every ounce of her concentration not to stumble on the uneven ground she was walking (did this man even know what it meant to walk in 4 inch heels?!).

And when he finally came to an abrupt stop it didn’t really surprise her that she tripped, but before she could fall to the ground a pair of strong arms held her upright. Damn him and his ninja skills she thought to herself, but how sexy they were, his abilities, not his arms, although…

She heard a chuckle above her. “I said that out loud, didn’t I?” she asked while she felt her cheeks turn pink.

“Yup.” he said, the amusement clearly ringing in his voice as he stepped away from her once he could be sure she’d found her balance again and, to her surprise, he unfolded a big plaid picnic blanket and spread it out on the grass below.

“Oliver, what are we doing here - and; where is here?” she started to ask.

But he didn’t answer her question, instead he gave her a signal with his hand to  move closer and sit down. She tilted her head to the side and gave him a questioning look, but sat down anyway. And then she could see. Looking ahead from their spot she could see the entire city in front of her. Hundreds of thousands of lights were sparkling in the dark of the night the water of Starling City Bay reflecting them in an almost entrancing dance. It was beautiful and it took her a while to fully appreciate the thought that this was the same city they were fighting for every day.

“Wow. This is beautiful.” she finally said.

“I thought, you might like it here. It was one of my secret spots in the past. I came here whenever I needed to get away from it all.” he said, sitting down on the blanket himself, looking at her when he continued “I actually never showed this place to anyone before. Not even Tommy.”

“Oh?” it was one of these rare moments in Felicity’s life where she found herself lost for words. She didn’t know what to make of that, of him showing her this spot. As much as she appreciated this moment of calm and quiet he had granted her with this escape she couldn’t help the thought of how much out of character this was for him. He never was the one who shared too much about his life freely with anyone. Hell - until a few weeks ago she along with everyone else thought that Sara had died when the Gambit went down. She was also certain that he didn’t spend all of those five years on that island in the North China Sea. The moment she’d seen the very noticeable star-shaped tattoo on his left chest she had known that there was more to his story, but she had never asked, not even during or after their trip to Moscow. What she did know, was that only high ranking members of the Bratva got to wear this form of ‘medal’, but she had never asked. And knowing that he was sharing something so private with her...

“You’re uncharacteristically quiet.” his voice interrupted her thoughts “what are you thinking about?”

“I - I’m just wondering why we are here.”

“I thought you could use a little time away…”

“Hmmmm.” she hummed her approval lying down on the blanket looking up into the sky “thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” he replied lying down as well with his hand behind his head.

They laid beside one another for a while without saying a word until Oliver broke the silence.

“I am worried about you” his voice turning serious.

“I’m fi…” she tried to respond but Oliver’s words cut in the moment she started to speak, turning to his side looking at her “And don’t say you’re fine!” he all but growled.

“You’re having nightmares, you barely eat, you’ve been avoiding Dig, Sara, Thea and me the last few days. You didn’t even want to get your coffee from the place down the block from QC after our lunch. Instead you settled with the swill they serve down at the cafeteria. you rarely leave your bedroom when we’re at the penthouse, you didn’t even watch this week’s episode of that show you’re clearly obsessed with, you cried at the office yesterday because of a youtube video about puppies and tonight you punched a man in the throat and hid in a restroom stall! So please… please don’t tell me you’re fine.”

She closed her eyes during his - granted - very detailed argumentation. She didn’t know that he’d noticed. She breathed out heavily, not knowing what to tell him.

Every single point he had made was painfully accurate.

Yes, she had nightmares and she knew he knew. He had been there to witness them more than once.

Knowing that someone out there would go so far as to hire someone to kill her wasn’t helping either, nor was the fact that said person had, himself, been killed only hours after his arrest.

She felt watched most of the time - because most of the time she was watched, either by her co-workers, who didn’t even bother hiding the fast spiraling rumors from her anymore or by Oliver or Dig and it was, slowly but surely, beginning to get too much for her to handle. And tonight… that guy at the club was the final straw - she snapped.

“I don’t know what to say Oliver.” finally opening her eyes again she could see just how close he was to her and she too turned around to the side, her upper body’s weight resting on her elbow, still searching for the right words.

“What do you want me to say? That I feel scared? Helpless? Watched? Useless? Because, yes, that’s exactly how I feel. I am scared out of my mind that someone out there would go through so much trouble to hire a person like Tockman to hunt me down and kill me, Oliver! And now?!... Now Tockman’s dead and we have no lead whatsoever. We don’t know who might have hired him or killed him. All we know is that someone clearly wants the police to think it was me and there are people who are more than willing to believe that. So yes, I feel helpless…

“But you know what’s the worst part ? It’s the prying eyes all around! Because no matter where I go, they’re there… Whether it’s the people at QC talking about us or the paparazzi who might not be camping outside anymore to get a picture of us together, I feel watched, Oliver… Because every time I catch someone looking at me… I cannot help but think that this might be another person who’s in on this...”

She stopped to catch her breath before ending her rambling “... and that combined all in all pretty much renders me useless.” closing her eyes in an attempt at keeping the pooling tears in her eyes under control.

“You’re not useless, Felicity. You are one of the strongest people I know...” his voice dark and rough as he spoke, the clear affection in it making her shiver as she felt the warmth of his breath against her cool skin. His eyes only inches apart from hers when she opened them again, his fingers brushing up and down her arm, drawing lazy patterns on her skin.

“At least I didn’t have to pay for my early cup the last few days…” she offered in a weak attempt to lighten the mood and drown the tension.

“please don’t do that…” he closed his eyes and shook his head as he moved even closer to her until his forehead rested against hers, the sensation of his warm skin touching hers against the cold night air making her close her eyes again “I’m scared too.” he continued, his voice only merely a whisper “I never wanted any of that for you… The mere thought of losing you terrifies me.” his hand travelling to her shoulder, fingers brushing lightly over the slowly fading scar that the minute hand had left behind.

She listened to his words in silence and felt his hand exploring the scarred skin on her shoulder. She slowly moved her hand up to where his fingers still lingered and covered it with her tiny fingers grabbing it tightly.

“I’m still here…” swallowing all the other words that were whirling in her head at that moment. She looked down at his hand she held in hers and brushed her lips against his knuckles before she could have even second guessed her action, hearing a heavy sigh escaping his lips.

She looked up to his face, his eyes opening only a second later.

The intensity with which he looked at her took her breath away. He was looking straight into her yes and all the way into her soul for countless seconds without moving or saying anything before he closed his eyes again and lowered his forehead against hers.

“I can’t have anything happen to you.” she could feel his warm breath ghosting over her skin as she closed her eyes, enjoying the warmth his close proximity was providing against the cold air around them.

She moved her hand up to his stubbled jaw “I am always safe when I’m with you.” It was the truth. There was this bone deep feeling of safety whenever she was with him, a feeling she never before in her life had felt. His fingers grazing against her shoulder made her hum quietly and she instinctively moved closer to him, their noses rubbing against each other as his hand traveled further over her neck and his fingers gently playing with her hair at her nape just as his lips ever so lightly moved over hers.

It didn’t take her a second to respond. Her body buzzing with the sensation his lips against hers as she gently pressed back, cupping the side of his face with her hand to pull herself even closer against him. The haunting pictures and dreadful feelings of fading away with every brush of his lips.

What had started out slow, with only their lips moving against the others soon became more as his arm travelled down, fingers caressing her spine, pulling her body against his before he laid her down on the cozy blanket his body and lips still firmly attached to hers, gently nibbling on her lower lip while one of his hands travelled down her side until his hand could feel her warm skin where the hem of her top ended.

Slipping beneath the thin fabric his hand started to explore her warm skin moving from her abdomen up to her ribs with smooth careful strokes while simultaneously tracing her lower lip with his tongue.

She didn’t know what just happened. All she knew was that one minute they were talking to each other and the next their lips were pressed against each other. The sensation his actions were causing to her body felt too good to let her overthink the situation they were in at that moment.

Reaching up she grasped the short strands of his hair with both her hands, gently running her fingernails over his scalp making a low growl emit from the back of his throat as she parted her lips to grant him access. The feeling of his tongue brushing against hers sent a jolt of desire through her whole body.

After what felt like hours she had to pull back for air while his lips traveled over her jaw and slowly down her throat, gently sucking and nibbling the soft skin until he found one particularly sensitive spot at the crook of her neck that made her moan in response to his ministrations. He smiled against her skin before he sucked at her already tender skin and bit down ever so lightly, causing Felicity to let her head fall back onto the blanket a piercing pain shooting through her entire body as one of the two still sore spots on the back of her head hit the hard surface below the blanket. A loud hiss escaped her mouth.

He immediately let go of her looking at her startled as if pulled out of a trance. Standing up he took two steps back, both hands scrubbing over his face.

“I’m sorry.”

She looked up to him. Not believing what she had just heard.

He was sorry? Sorry for what? Did he really apologize for kissing her? For what just had happened between them?

She didn’t want to hear or even think about the answers to all her questions at that moment.

She stood up as well, quickly turning away from him before he could see the tears that escaped her eyes.

“I want to go home.” she said, making her way back along the small path to the car without waiting for even a second for him to follow her. His footsteps caught up to her quickly, but Felicity didn’t bother to look back even once.

“Felicity, can I..? Please, I’m...”

“I heard it Oliver, you’re sorry.” she shot back not wanting to hear anything more from him right now as she opened the passenger door of his car. As far as she was concerned this evening had ended about 5 minutes ago and there was nothing more to be said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what did you think? Let me know and leave a little feedback (and Kudos of course…)  
> Also you can find me on Twitter @MurielB79. Come say hi! I’d love to hear from you.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: This chapter contains smut, and smut only... So, for those not interested in these things, feel free to skip this chapter...  
> For the rest of you - I hope you'll enjoy the read. It's my first smutty chapter ever, so please be gentle with me... XD

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to my smut-consultant Felice... Thank you for your help with this!  
> Also, an apology to my Beta Christy, who hasn't got to proofread it yet... I hope she forgives me for the early update...

 

 

They spent the whole way back to Starling in complete silence, but unlike before it was a silence filled with tension and unspoken words. Thick air that threatened to suffocate him. Even after driving for half an hour she still persistently looked out of the window and continued to ignore him.

By the time they passed the gateway of the building’s parking garage the tension had thickened to the point where he caught himself releasing a sigh of relief the moment he turned off the car’s engine and stepped out into the cold concrete hall.

When he turned around towards the building’s doors he could see that Felicity was already halfway there, her head bowed down and her fingers fumbling through her purse until she pulled out the security card to the building. Against his every instinct he let her go on ahead alone, knowing that it’d be best if he just let her have the space she needed right now.

When he finally reached the penthouse, all he could hear was the sound of a door closing upstairs.

He went straight into his bathroom, still wondering how this evening could have taken such a turn. The sound of tension filled silence still ringing in his ears. He was use to her arguing or even practically yelling at him, but never in his life had he imagined how daunting her silence could be. A shower was just what he needed to take his mind off of whatever it was that just had happened.

He had just wanted her to feel better and honestly no one could blame him after he had witnessed the state she was in when Roy had finally made him aware of what was going on in the women’s bathroom.

He had scolded himself all the while as he made his way towards the ladies room, not knowing what he might be presented with. He should have known better than to leave her down there all by herself. Deep down he knew that she was putting on a brave face for him, for Dig and for Thea… but none of it was real. And he should have known! Instead he made himself believe that she would miraculously bounce back from everything that had just happened. But seeing her there…

Seeing her in the state she was, the only thought coursing in his head was about how he could make her feel better. He wanted her to see that she was safe with him. He needed to make them both believe.

That had been the reason for taking her to his secret spot outside the city. A spot he hadn’t revisited until that night himself, after more than seven years, but one where he himself always felt sheltered from the rest of his crazy life.

It had been a great plan - up to the point he’d looked at her, standing in the middle of the clearing the bright moonlight playing around her features, her eyes fixed on the sparkling lights of the city. And then she’d turned around with this smile on her face, a smile he was sure he wouldn’t forget for the rest of his days.

“Felicity? What…?” Oliver just returning to his bedroom dressed in only a pair of sweatpants he threw on in the prospect of a sleepless night, his mind still surrounded by the the stars and her beautiful flushed face only lit by the moon right before his lips had travelled down her neck. Right before…

There she was, standing in front of him again, dressed in only an oversized shirt, her hair still damp from the shower she too must have taken, falling down in waves around her back. Her face free of any makeup and her perfect porcelain skin shining in the dim light in his room. She was perfect just like this.

He moved instinctively towards her, before she made him stop dead in his tracks.

“You know what, Oliver? I had time to think. And you know what; It’s NOT ok. It’s not ok that you kiss me and then apologize for it. It is everything but ok that you feel sorry for kissing me. See, I have it on good authority that I am a good kisser - NO, a great kisser. It’s one of my fortes…” she shifted from one foot to the other before she started to pace along the foot of his bed.

“Felicity…” he took a small step closer to her.

“No!” she held up a hand “you know, it doesn’t matter, even if I weren’t that good a kisser - which I am - no girl or woman should ever have to hear those words after a makeout session like the one YOU initiated in the first place!”

“Felicity…” taking another step closer unable to hide his smile anymore. A smile she couldn’t even see as she was still too caught up in her ramble.

“I deserve better than that, Oliver. Every girl on this planet - no, every girl in this entire universe deserves to be treated better than this. You don’t get to take me to your ‘special spot’, make me talk about my feelings and my fears only to take me totally off-guard, kissing me senseless and give me this!” she pulled back her damp hair and his eyes immediately zeroed in on the already light purple hickey on her neck, the one he made only an hour ago, just before…

“Felicity.” he took her shielding hand into his own as he took the last step towards her, intertwining his fingers with hers “can I say something now?”

He had to smile at the confused look on her face and the way she was biting on her lower lip. Her face was rubbed clean of any make-up with only small traces of magenta left on her lips and he couldn’t think of a moment she’d looked as beautiful as right in this moment.

“I am sorry.” he spoke softly, ignoring her annoyed grunt, his other hand taking hold of the small of her back to prevent her from going anywhere “I am, but not for the reason you think I am…”

Letting go of her hand, he ran his over her arm and shoulder along her collarbone, carefully skimming over her still tender scar until his fingers started to draw playful circles up her neck.

“Oliver?” she had closed her eyes leaning into him the moment his fingers started to brush over the tender spot.

“I could never feel sorry for kissing you” he whispered over her skin as his forehead touched hers “or touching you the way I did - the way I am now… the way I want to.”

“But I know I should… You deserve so much better than me.”

Felicity only responded with a tired huff.

“I could never hurt you, Felicity… The thought of hurting you…”

“Don’t.” she hushed “You didn’t… You don’t.” both of her hands gently rubbing over the back of his head, combing her fingers through the short strands of his still damp hair making him almost melt into her touch.

“Oliver?”

“Hmmmmm?” he all but purred with all the sensations her hands forced from his body only by the simple touch of her hands gently massaging his scalp.

“How much longer do I have to wait for you to kiss me?” her question making him chuckle.

He did not need to be asked twice, but unlike the last time there would be no way he would be stopping. He would savor every single second he got to spend in her company. He would enjoy every single reaction he could tease out of her and take his delight in every sound she’d make.

There was no one more worthy of his time than her and there was nowhere he would rather be in this or any other moment but with his gorgeous blonde babbling genius.

He brushed his lips over hers, barely touching her skin “you have no idea how sexy you looked lying on that blanket with just the moon above us, do you?” he asked, not giving her a second to respond before he pressed his lips firmly onto hers again and just like the last time he could feel his whole body being surrounded with a warmth and comfort he wasn’t use to, not even before the island, it made his breath stutter.

“Why don’t you tell me?” she asked in a teasing voice smiling against his lips as her her hands travelled down his back, fingernails lightly scratching over his bare skin leaving goosebumps in their downward rail as her body pressed more firmly against his.

Growling in response he drew his fingers through her hair holding her head in place his other hand coming to a rest on the small of her back, holding her as close to him as he could as he started move his lips and tongue over her jaw towards her ear.

“I wanted you so much in that moment.” flicking his tongue against her earlobe before sucking it into his mouth, enjoying the way her whole body shuddered under his touch “but this here is even better, because...” his voice only a low rumble against her skin as he nibbled his way back to her lips “now I can take you to bed the way I wanted to the day I walked into your cubicle and you looked at me with that damn red pen between your lips.” he pressed a gentle kiss on the corner of her mouth “I can lay your body down on this comfortable mattress and take my time.”

Unable to withhold the mewl that had threatened to escape her throat the moment he had flicked her earlobe with his tongue any longer she raised to her tiptoes, brushing her upper body against his, the fabric of her oversized cotton shirt adding a delicious extra sensation to her already pebbled nipples as she ran her tongue over the seam of his lips.

Oliver’s lips parted without hesitation and she took the invitation gratefully, letting her tongue brush against his as she started to explore the soft warmth of his mouth, her body melting against him as his hands wandered down her back until he had found the hem of her shirt.

Felicity could feel a deep growl raising deep inside him the instant his hands were met with only bare skin underneath her shirt as his tongue simultaneously invaded her mouth in response.

She hissed against his lips when he gave both cheeks a firm squeeze, making him chuckle as he let go of her lips and pressed his forehead to hers.

The sound of his small laugh ran through her body like a warm ray of sunshine. She had never heard a sound like that coming from him and it spurred her on. She mirrored his gesture, running her fingers under the fabric of his sweats she grazed his skin with her fingernails, taking pleasure in the shiver that ran through his body before she flattened her hands and pulled her body closer, grinding her hips against his.

“Felicity” he uttered as his hands wandered even lower over to the top of her thighs “hold onto me tight.”

Drawing her hands from his back she looped her arms around his neck, a bright bubbly laugh escaping her as he hoisted her body off the ground, her legs wrapping around his body.

“You know - that was exactly what I had in mind the first time I told you that...” he said with a bright smile on his face just before he, like he had told her, laid her down on the bed, kneeling down right in front.

Finding their way under the fabric of her shirt his hands started to wander upward, fingertips gently caressing her skin as his lips simultaneously started to run soft kisses up her left thigh.

Felicity lifted her right leg, her heel pressing against Oliver’s shoulder blade the same moment his hands reached the underside of her breasts making her arch against his touch. Her hands grabbed the hem of her shirt in an attempt to get rid of the one piece of fabric she wore.

His lips and tongue moved along with the hem of her shirt, kissing and nibbling on the soft skin of her lower abdomen as his fingers continued their paths around her breasts, gently scratching his fingertips over her already heated flesh. He circled his tongue around her bellybutton enjoying the way her body moved under his tongue as he dipped in, laving it with open mouthed kisses.

“Ugh!” the sound coming from her lips was low, but filled with annoyance. As he looked up he could see her clearly struggling to get out of her shirt. He moved his hands to her back, his palms flat under her shoulder blades, pulling her up to sit in front of him.

“Let me help.” he said as he smiled up to her, his lips finding their way back to her skin as his hands guided her arms out of the sleeves of her shirt and pulled the shirt off over her head, leaving her completely bare sitting on his bed. He looked at her. Her soft skin flushed and a gentle smile on her face as she combed her fingers through his hair again, looking down at him.

“Hi.” the word only a whisper before she lowered her head to reach his lips for another kiss.

He more than willingly leaned into the kiss, letting her lips and tongue explore to her heart’s content while his hands continued their exploration over the soft skin of her back.

Felicity could feel his hands running up and down over her back, his fingers gently playing over her skin while she was nibbling on his lower lip before she gently grazed it with her teeth, making him growl against her lips.

Oliver’s response followed immediately. Fingers on her lower back pulled her body against his chest, his other hand keeping her body upright. She mewled into his mouth as his hard chest rubbed over her heated sex the moment his lips wandered down to her left breast, sucking at her already hard nipple.

“Ahhh!” Felicity cried out.

He pressed in against her lower back again, giving her the friction he could feel she wanted, her feet linking behind his back right before he laid her body down on the mattress again. She could feel the soft fabric beneath her, the cool sheets a sharp contrast to the heat his hands and mouth radiated over her, heightening her already palpable arousal even more. She ground her hips against his body trying to get more of that delicious friction she was seeking the moment they’d started kissing again as Oliver continued his downward track with his lips, a low growl emitting from deep in his chest at her actions.

His lips moved over her hip bone, his tongue drawing circles over it towards her center just before breathing cool air over the damp trail it left and planting a gentle kiss on her apex.

“Oliver…” their eyes locked as he looked up into her face.

She was watching him with stormy eyes, her cheeks rosy and her skin glowing in the dim light in the room “please.” she whispered, giving him all the permission he needed at that moment. He moved lower, his lips blanketing her as his tongue swiped over her slit and planted hot kisses across her skin.

He felt her hips bucking and the most beautiful sounds he had ever heard escaped from her softly parted lips, spurring him on even more.

Oliver grabbed one of her knees and placed her leg over his shoulder, his other hand pushing her free leg to the side, leaving her spread open for his hungry mouth.

He delved into her wetness, his tongue lapping at her entrance before he moved up to her clit, drawing slow patterns around it without touching it.

“Yesss…” she ground her hips against him, trying to get more from him as her hands gripped the sheets on either side of her body.

He watched her writhing before him and it was the sexiest thing he had ever witnessed. He groaned against her skin as his tongue rubbed against her pebbled nub one time before he moved back down towards her opening.

Caging her hips with one arm to control her movements he moved his other arm up along her body and cupped her breast just as he thrust his tongue into her silky walls licking in and out a few times before he drew back to focus his mouth on her inner lips making Felicity growl with displeasure at the loss of friction.

“Patience.” smiling against her skin as he spoke, thrusting one finger deep into her without any hesitation as his mouth started to suckle on her wet folds.

The moment he felt her walls starting to flutter around his finger he added a second. Thrusting in with slow deep strides, his tongue simultaneously lapping up her juices, drawing up towards her clit and circling it a few times only to repeat the pattern for what felt like hours for Felicity.

He curled his fingers inside of her, pressing against her upper walls with every single thrust.

He sped up his pace when her low whimpers turned into screams sounding like a prayer to his ears.

“Yesss… oh god, yes…. Yes, yes… please, just like that…” Felicity wailed, her heart beating wildly against her chest.

He flattened his tongue against her clit, lapping at it for a few moments until he encompassed her already engorged nub with his lips and sucked it into his mouth.

“Oh god!” she screamed into the silence of the room, her hips beginning to twitch wildly under his restraining arm just before her whole body stiffened and her inner walls started to clench around his fingers.

Her back bowed as he looked up to her and he could see her mouth open in a silent scream as she came around his fingers.

He loosened the hold of her hips as he slowed the pace of his fingers and reluctantly let go of her clit while she rode out the waves of her orgasm.

He carefully cradled her body in his arms and pushed her up on the mattress as his lips laved over her heated skin, leaving a trail of open mouthed kisses over her abdomen up between her breasts until he reached her mouth and claimed her lips in a tender and slow kiss as he laid down beside her.

She hummed in contentment and smiled against his lips when they parted to get some much needed air into their lungs.

“That was… Wow.” she turned to her side and looked at him almost shyly, drawing soft lazy patterns over his chest, resting her head against his shoulder and placing gentle kisses against his shoulder.

“It was…” he pressed a soft kiss on her forehead, marvelling in the exciting and warm feeling the touch of her fingers created all over his body as they travelled further down over his stomach, skimming over the oldest scar on his body before she continued her track, lightly scratching her fingernails over his lower abdomen. The further down her hand wandered the more insistent her fingers pressed against his skin.

“I know what would be even better…” she whispered against his skin.

Felicity pushed herself up on her elbow as her fingers started to toy with the waistband of his sweats, pulling it up a little bit, the fabric of his pants rubbing over his obvious arousal. She smiled against his skin as a low moan escaped his lips.

Her fingers slowly creeping beneath the elastic band, her fingers grazing over his hipbone and down his thigh dragging down the fabric down with her movements.

At that moment she wanted nothing more than to get up and pounce on him and repay his favor. The thought of exploring his whole body with her tongue and lips alone made her shudder as she drew-up her leg and placed it firmly between his, but the moment she tried to reach over to the other side of him to pull herself up further she noticed an uncomfortable pull against her still tender scar and she stiffened.

“Felicity? We don’t have to…” he said hesitantly his hand stroking up her back.

She let out a low groan, withdrawing her hand from his side sitting up on her knees as she leaned over him “but I…” she looked up to him, her tongue darting out to lick her lips “... I really want to.” both hands tugging on his waistband again “but, ummm, you’re still far too dressed for what I had in mind.”

He looked up to her with a smug smile on his face, his hands tracing over her naked thighs “Oh? And what would that b…” his words dying in his throat when her flat hand stroke over his still very clothed and very hard length.

His hips bucked up against her hand as she repeated the movements once, twice. She was watching him, watching the reactions of his body, her bottom lip trapped between her teeth and an excited smile plastered on her face. She was a sight to behold.

They moved in sync as he lifted his hips off the mattress she grabbed the waistband and dragged it over his already painfully hard cock. He moaned loudly as the cool air hit him and instantly sat up himself, pushing his pants down further.

“C’mere.” His patience testing him in this moment when he looked at her gorgeous naked body right in front of him, reminding him that they had all the time in the world. That she deserved all the time in the world. She was worth all his time… He grabbed her by her waist, gently guiding her onto his lap so she would straddle him with her legs.

His eyes drank her in as she lowered her hips onto his lap. His eyes skimmed over her face, down to her shoulders and collarbone, the still fresh and red scar a sharp contrast to her otherwise creamy skin. He couldn’t help but to lightly run his fingers over that spot on her body as his gaze lowered to her perfectly shaped breasts.

His hand instinctively moved down with his eyes, cupping one breast beneath his palm. He looked up into her eyes as he heard a sigh coming from her mouth. She had been watching him, a playful smile curling around her plush lips as she curled her fingers in the short strands of hair at his neck. He shuddered at the sensation just as her lips claimed his in a deep and slow kiss, her hips sunk even deeper in his lap.

He could feel every little movement she made above him as her tongue started to play along his lips. He moaned into her mouth when she started to move her hips in little circles, one of her hands tracing along his abs over his lower abdomen, his cock twitching at the sensation and before he could even anticipate her next move he felt her fingers curling around the base of his shaft making his hips surge up. He let go of her lips and looked at her as she started to pump his hard length in slow firm strokes and if the sensations her actions caused to curse through his body weren’t already enough, the look on her face as she watched his body react was nearly his undoing. She looked like pure erotisism. Her eyes were hooded with arousal, pupils blown wide and her lower lip caught between her teeth. If she kept this up for only a few more moments he would be done for… … ...

“Felicity…” He pressed against the small of her back and pulled her closer to his body, his breaths coming out in ragged pants as he gently encompassed her hand with his and gently removed her fingers from his already throbbing dick.

She cocked her head as he moved her arms to lay against his shoulder, her brows furrowed and the question clear on her face. “Baby, if you keep up with this, I will be done much faster than the both of us want…”

“Well, I know what I want…” a smug grin on her face as she tried to reach down again, but he caught her hand only a millisecond later. He guided her hand to his mouth, a low growl emitting from his chest as he gently bit down on its heel to emphasize his point where he started to nibble on her skin again, moving up to her wrist.

He had just reached her elbow when he felt her other arm sneaking down his side with a clear target, mischief written all over her face when he grabbed her wrist “You little…” the last word stuck in his throat as she ground her hips against his cock again and he could feel how wet she still was as her sex pressed against his hardness.

He snapped.

Before Felicity knew what was happening Oliver had turned them over and his hips were pressing firmly against hers, his thick shaft rubbing against her wet folds making both of them moan.

He had successfully turned the tables on her, his body caging hers as his lips started to lick around one of her pert nipples.

He reached behind and grabbed one of her knees, hiking her leg up to his waist and ground against her hot wet core, his shaft rubbing over her clit as he sucked her nipple into his mouth, his tongue stroking it, mirroring the motions of his hips. And like he told her before he found his joy in the reactions and sounds he coaxed out of her.

He could feel her leg muscles contract against his waist and her fingernails raking down over his back and her wildly beating heart beneath his lips. “Felicity…” he rasped against her skin. He knew he wouldn’t last much longer.

He got up on his knees and blindly reached over her. Opening the nightstand he pulled out a box of condoms.

Felicity let out a low cuckle as she watched him holding the box of condoms in front of him like a prized trophy as he yanked out a strip of condoms

“do I want to know, why you keep these in your nightstand?” she raised an amused eyebrow at him as he huffed in annoyance, his fingers fiddled with the wrapping.

Felicity sat up and gently removed the wrapping from his hands. Looking at the foil packet she opened it and pulled out the condom and within seconds her nimble fingers had sheathed his still painfully erect dick with the thin latex material.

She looked up to him as she pumped him two, three more times for good measure as her lips brushed over the first scar he had earned during his five years away. The action so simple, but so intimate and powerful his breath caught in his throat. He would tell her about it, about everything. He wanted to tell her about it all and not only the little bits he let pass by his lips until now. She was worth the truth and he could only hope that she would still accept him the same way she did now once she knew all about him.

But now there was only one thing he needed her to know.

“God, you’re beautiful.” he breathed against her ear as he lowered her head down to rest against the pillows.

“You mean so much to me.” he cradled her head in his hands, his lips brushing over her still raw skin on her collarbone before he raised his head again to look down at her, eyes locking. She was looking for an answer to his words, but the moment he looked down into her eyes, the instant she looked up to him all coherent words were lost on her, the only sound escaping her lips was a low moan when she felt him positioning himself at her entrance, slowly sinking inside her.

Her legs encompassed his hips and she raked her fingers through his hair, her mouth opening in a silent gasp at the feeling of him slowly sinking into her. She could feel every inch of him as he slid in inch by inch. Her heels pressed against his hips, encouraging him to go deeper until his pelvis was firmly pressed against hers and both of them panting with the overwhelming feeling of this moment.

Oliver lowered his head just as Felicity raised hers, their lips meeting in the middle as he pulled out just as slow before he pushed back in, lips quelling both their escaping sounds in a deep kiss and passionate kiss. Her legs tightened their grip around his hips as she met him midway on his next thrust.

There was nothing hurried about the way they moved together. Just two bodies enjoying the closeness of each other, setting a steady pace.

It was nothing like he’d ever felt. In all those years where he had been more than just careless about who he would hook up with next or even the few after his time away, never had he felt that way during sex. It had always been a ventile a way to lose tension, a moment where he could just let go. Whether it was with McKenna, Helena or even Laurel - it had always been about tension, but with Felicity it felt different. It felt right, great. For the first time in as long as Oliver could remember it was only about two people caring deeply about each other - no secrets and no pretences. He could just be himself, with her…

“God, Felicity…” he gasped, feeling her inner walls starting to flutter around him. He sped up the pace, planting his knees more firmly against the mattress and, like that, changed the angle in which he entered her.

The effect was immediate, her breath hitching in her throat and her muscles clamped more firmly on his cock.

One of his hands traveled down her body spreading over the small of her back, pressing her body closer to his as he drove into her harder and faster, the base of his cock brushing over her clit on every downward movement of his hips against hers.

Felicity let go of his head, nails digging hard into his shoulder, her hips still meeting him thrust for thrust. “Please, Oliver - feels so good…” she wailed underneath him.

He firmed his grip on the small of her back, feeling the tingling in his spine starting to spread. He wouldn’t last much longer, he knew.

Lowering his other arm he pressed his thumb against her clit. Felicity cried out the moment his finger grazed her sensitive bud “Oh my God! Don’t stop! Oliver... don’t…” and he had no intention to, the fire spreading higher and higher in his body, as she started to chant his name over and over.

Almost there…

He pressed his thumb more firmly against her clit as his hips smashed against hers, two, three more times until he could feel her crumble under him, her inner wall clamping around him like a vice and she screamed out his name in pure bliss.

He moved his head to the crook of her neck, moaning loudly against her skin as the shockwaves of his own orgasm flashed through his entire body, his arms wrapping around her back and pulling her body even closer to him.

“Felicity…” he breathed against her heated skin both of them slowly came down from their high.

Felicity combed her fingers through Oliver’s hair, holding his head tight against her neck and let the warm and blissful feeling of being so close to him spread over her entire body, feeling his lips peppering gentle kisses over her neck and shoulder.

She pressed herself closer to him as he turned them over to the side, unwilling to let him go just yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what did you think? Let me know and leave a comment (and Kudos of course…)  
> Also you can find me on Twitter @MurielB79. Come say hi! I’d love to hear from you.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, here is another chapter for you guys... It's mostly fluff and smut. I will get back to the plot in the next chapter, but I thought this fandom could use all the fluff/smut it can get at the moment...  
> Enjoy! :)

 

 

“Hmmm… So that happened.” Felicity’s mumbled sleepily after Oliver had lay down beside her again and pulled her closer to him after the two of them finally got ready for the night. She snuggled into his embrace and laid her head down on his shoulder, pressing a soft kiss against the pulse point in his neck.

She didn’t know how long they had just laid in each other’s embrace after, what she could only describe as the two most amazing orgasms she had experienced in her whole life, and - given the lazy smile on Oliver’s face he was just as content as she was in that moment.  

His arm tightened around her back, pulling her even closer against him. He looked over to her and pressed a tender kiss against her forehead, gently tucking a strand of hair back behind her ear.

“I’m glad it did.” his lips trailed down over her temple over her cheek until he reached hers again.

“Yeah? Me too...” she whispered against his skin before she pressed her lips against his in a gentle kiss, feeling the tenderness of his embrace and the warmth of his skin all around her.

Only a day ago she had never imagined ever being in this situation with him - well, ok that was a lie. She had imagined this exact scenario about a hundred times before tonight, but none of what she had made up in her fantasies could have compared to reality. Because - wow! He really knew what he was doing…

She snuggled a bit closer to him when she heard a low chuckle. “I said that out loud, didn’t I.”

“You did.” his voice warm and sleepy “and you weren’t that bad yourself.” teasing her “in fact, I could get used to this.”

“You mean with my…” Felicity trailed off, yawning.

“I mean you, here, in this apartment, in this bed, with me… Us.” Oliver tried to clarify, his eyes already shut tight as he nuzzled her temple.

“Mtoo…” she slurred as she finally dozed off to sleep. Oliver followed only seconds later.

**************

Felicity was the first to jolt awake at the sound of the elevator’s reedy ‘bing’ echoing through the penthouse from downstairs closely followed by a loud voice “Where are you guys?”

“Frack!” she exclaimed as she looked at the alarm on the bedside table - the very much turned off alarm. “Oh Frack!”

She tried to move out of bed, but was immediately held back by a strong arm around her waist, his grip tightening against her attempts of getting out of bed.

“How late is it?” he asked in a deep sleep ridden voice.

“Late, Oliver!” she huffed out incredulously “we forgot to set the alarm and now Dig is already waiting downstairs, because we were supposed to meet him downstairs 10 minutes ago!”

That did the trick. Oliver sat up straight in bed, his arms letting go of Felicity as he looked around the room. The sun was already about to rise between the city’s buildings, casting the bedroom in rays of golden light and shadows. A look over to the alarm clock told him that it in deed was shortly after 7:30 am.

He rubbed his eyes with the balls of his hands. He tried to remember the last time he had slept past sunrise, or rather he had allowed himself to rest as long as he just had, or when nightmares had permitted him to sleep through a whole night.

He shook his head, trying to focus on the here and now as Dig’s voice from downstairs echoed again “Guys?”

“We’re coming!” Oliver called out to his partner. “10…” he watched Felicity glare at him “20 minutes. Get yourself a coffee…” he bolted out of bed.

“Hey.” his hand shot out for hers and held her back before she could rush out of the room.

He leaned down towards her and brushed his lips over her skin beside her ear “good morning.” he whispered the words into her ear before he brushed his lips against hers in a sweet and gentle kiss.

“Good morning to you too.” Felicity whispered back looking up to him, her cheeks rosy, her hair an absolute mess of untamed curls and her lips still blushed from last night.

She looked absolutely stunning.

“We should - ummm…” She stammered out.

“Yeah. We absolutely should.” he said in a suggestive voice.

“Get moving, I meant.” she shook her head, but the little smile on her face didn’t escape his attention.

“Right.” both smiling at each other before she quietly made her way back to her room and he went to the bathroom to get ready as quickly as possible.

Ten minutes later Oliver rushed down the stairs dressed in a dark gray and freshly tailored Armani suit, the matching tie still in hand. There would be enough time to fix that in the car.

“Morning.” he greeted Dig as he stepped into the kitchen and getting himself a cup of coffee before he meticulously filled up one of the to-go thermos for Felicity.

“What’s with the grin on your face?” Dig asked as Oliver finally turned to face him.

“Isn’t a man allowed to be in a good mood?” Oliver shrugged, turning to the fridge to grab the creamer and added it to Felicity’s coffee before he closed the thermos.

“Not, if said man’s normal default is brooding vigilante.” Diggle countered, but before he could continue his light interrogation he was interrupted by hurried footsteps toddling down the stairs.

“Ready!” Felicity called out to the two of them as she was about to put on her heels. She looked over her shoulder towards the two men that were still standing in the kitchen. She could feel Oliver’s gaze wandering down her body, eyes stopping at the hem of her dark purple fit and flare dress that just stopped mid-thigh. She had fallen in love with this dress the moment she had laid eyes on it and she knew how good she looked in this dress and how perfectly it highlighted her legs – hell it was the reason she decided to wear it in the first place.

She could feel her cheeks heating up under the scrutiny of his gaze. She shot a pointed look back in his direction.

Diggle looked back and forth between the two. “Can’t believe I owe Thea 50 bucks.” he muttered loud enough for the others to hear.

Oliver was heading after her towards the elevator where she was waiting for them, handing her the thermos that she took with a grateful glee. Dig was hard on his feet, getting in after the two of them.

He turned around eyes towards the elevator doors “I hope the two of you know that we are going to have a talk about this.”

**************

The three of them arrived at QC 20 minutes later and were up on the executive floor 3 minutes later.

Felicity nearly ran out of the elevator, glad to escape the scrutiny of Dig’s all observing eyes he alternated the whole drive between her and Oliver through the rearview mirror making her feel like the one time back in High school when her mom had caught her in her bedroom when she and Gavin Liteman were kissing for the first and - thanks, mom - the last time.

But this wasn’t any Gavin Liteman and she hadn’t just been kissing Oliver last night. No, she had done more than that. She had opened up and he was the one that made her. She had allowed herself to be vulnerable and fragile with him and he was there. He was the one that captured her and made her feel safe and warm and adored - wanted. Just as much as she wanted him. Close to her, around her, filling all her senses.

She was at her desk, starting up her computer and sorting out the files for the upcoming business trip to Coast City by the time Oliver and Diggle entered her office.

When she looked up her eyes locked with Oliver’s as Dig had already stepped into his office. He cocked his head to the side with a small smile on his face as he moved closer to her desk, leaning over to get closer to her “I will talk to him. Ok?”

“And what will you tell him? We haven’t even talked about it. I mean…” she bit her lower lip “... last night was good - great even, but if that was just a...”

“Hey!” Oliver leaned in even closer covering her fingers that were fidgeting with one of her pens “I meant what I said last night…”

With one small tip to the back of her hand he straightened himself and walked into his office and closed the door behind him, leaving her to get to work and calm her nerves.

The moment he had closed the door he turned around to Diggle who had posted himself in the far corner of the office just like the professional driver/bodyguard he was, but before Oliver could utter a single syllable Dig started to talk.

“What are you doing, Oliver?” he moved closer and sat down in one of the visitor chairs looking at him expectantly “have you thought this through?”

“I know how this must look, John. But it’s not like that…” Oliver sat down opposite of his friend a hand raised in defense.

“And by ‘that’ you mean that it’s not only giving her the comfort she desperately needs right now?”

“You know me better than that!”

“I do, Oliver. That’s why I know that you have feelings for her just as much as she has feelings for you and I know that you would do everything for her - but that is exactly why…”

“You think I slept with her out of pity?!” Oliver’s voice a loud growl, challenging his friend to move further in the direction this conversation just went.

“No!” Diggle was quick to move that out of the way “I am asking you what happens after we catch that son of a bitch. What happens when we want to go back to business as usual? Because these last few days, weeks were everything but. What happens then? Over the past year you found reason after reason not to make a move although we both know you wanted to. What happens when your first instinct of pushing her away to keep her safe kicks in again?”

“It won’t.” Oliver’s voice filled with determination.

“I know that you don’t intend to, but you don’t know that, Oliver…” Diggle looked at him for a long time, his expression softening as he stood up and moved over to the office door, looking back at Oliver.

“Look, all I want for the both of you is to be happy and I sure as hell won’t stand in the way of that, but if you hurt her, I am going to kick your ass.”

Oliver huffed out a relieved chuckle “good. I am counting on that.” He looked over to Felicity through the glass walls of his office unable to resist the smile that curled around his lips.

Diggle sighed deeply beside him as he turned his head back.

“We will still have to talk about what that means for the team, you know that, right? Cause if this is going to work we will have to set some ground rules.” Dig continued.

His words however got interrupted by sudden movements in Felicity’s office and loud voices echoing into his.

Oliver didn’t have time to react before the door to his office opened and a very displeased (which really was her default look these days) Isabel stood in the doorway and moved inside, followed by Felicity closely behind. Her face was flushed and her lips pursed into two thin lines.

He could see Diggle giving Felicity a reassuring smile as he left them to their business and left for his daily meeting with building security.

The moment Dig turned the corner to the elevator the displeased brunette began to talk.

“I was just informed by your - secretary...” her head turning to throw a judgmental look at Felicity - her eyes fixed on her neck. It only took Oliver a short glance to know where Isabel’s eyes had landed. The hickey he was responsible for and Felicity, in the rush of the morning clearly had all but forgotten about.

“What do you want, Isabel?” he quickly directed Isabel’s attention to himself.

She snapped her head around to face him again.

“Your - secretary - just gave me an update on the preparation for your business meetings in Coast City.”

“Is there a problem? Because if not, I would really appreciate if we could get back to work without any further unnecessary interruptions.”

“You really think that you can pull another one of your ‘let’s combine work with a little pleasure’ stunts that you pulled in Moscow, Oliver? Although… We all know how that worked out for you the last time, don’t we.”

Isabel threw a dirty grin in Felicity’s direction before she continued “but, I am afraid that Miss Smoak won’t be able to attend this little trip of yours.

“I need her here on the team during the ongoing SCPD-investigations. After all, she was the one responsible for the security upgrade a few months ago.”

Felicity could feel the temperature in her blood rising at the other woman’s statement. She drew her lips inwards, biting down and her hands clenched into tight fists as she was trying not to react any more to this clear provocation. She wasn’t going to bite. The woman had tried time and time again, but like the other times she would just let it pass. It wasn’t worth the energy she told herself again.

“But I have to admit...” Isabel continued with a malicious undertone “I really did enjoy your…” her voice pure poison as he turned over to face Felicity.

‘Ok - enough is enough!’ Felicity thought to herself as she tried to find the right words to throw into Isabel’s face, but before she could Oliver was already on his feet and had made his way around his desk, stepping in between both women.

“That’s enough, Isabel!” his voice a loud growl that made the brunette step back.

He buttoned up his jacket as he took a step closer to her “And just to be clear. I do not approve of your behaviour towards my assistant…” he took another step towards Isabel “If I even hear as much as a whisper of another unprofessional approach of yours towards Felicity, I will report you to the board and HR. Are we clear?”

Isabel didn’t respond and instead threw another nasty glance over in Felicity’s direction before she turned around and left with the same quick angry steps she had entered the office minutes before.

Oliver turned around and walked over to Felicity. Her skin still burned with anger as his fingers touched her cheek “you ok?”

He smiled down at her as she leaned into his touch. Her fingers brushing over the lapels of his jacket as she took a step closer. “Yeah… Not that I don’t appreciate your growling vigilante impression you just did, but you didn’t need to do that. I can handle her myself…”

Oliver huffed out a little laugh as his hand lowered to her neck, drawing circles over the mark he had left on her body the night before “I have no doubt you can… I didn’t do that just for you, but for me as well. I wanted to tell her that for a long time.”

They both looked at each other for several long moments, neither of them sure what to do now before Felicity stepped back. “I will - ummm - work…” she stammered before she turned around and walked back to her desk, leaving him standing in the middle of his office.

He shook his head as he returned back to his desk and sat down as he heard Dig’s voice echoing in his mind. They really had to set ground rules - and not only for their night jobs.

**************

“God, do they even know how easy it is to hack into their servers? I mean, the only thing missing here is a neon “welcome”-sign. This security protocol is ridiculous. It’s like they don’t even know what that word means…” Felicity mumbled to herself as her fingers flew across her keyboard.

They had returned to Verdant a little bit over have an hour ago. It took her no more than another 15 minutes to totally zone-out - hell bent on finally getting some serious work done.

It took Oliver another 10 minutes to move away from her side and join Diggle and Sara for a healthy sparring session over at the training area.

“YES!” Felicity cheered in front of her monitors, clapping her hands just as Oliver returned to the working area all suited up.

“You’re headed out?” she asked in surprise when Oliver’s firm had on her shoulder pulled her back into the present.

“Yeah. It won’t be long though, 30 minutes max. Will you be ok?” he bent down a little closer to her. “If you want John could…”

“No.” she shook her head as she looked over to Diggle and back to Oliver.

“No. I’ll be fine I have at least 8 hours of security camera footage to go through.” she gestured to the monitors “that’ll keep me entertained.”

Oliver still didn’t look too convinced at her answer “seriously, Oliver. It’ll be fine.” she covered his glove clad hand on her desk “Go! Catch some bad guys… And when you get back I’ll be here.”

He moved back after a long second, searching her eyes. After last night he wouldn’t make the same mistake again, but the challenge in her eyes and the curl around her lips finally made him pull back, smiling back at her before he left the lair with Dig and Sara following.

As Oliver had announced the three of them were back only half an hour later (28 minutes and 34 seconds, but who’s counting…) and just like Felicity had told him, she was still there, in her spot, fingers typing on her keyboard and her eyes still trimmed on the screens in front of her.

But the moment he entered the room he felt the change in the mood they moved out to even before he heard Felicity’s loud voice echoing through the concrete walls when he already was changing back into normal clothes.

“Oh No! No no no no NOOO! DAMNIT!” Felicity exclaimed loudly as she looked at her screen when he rushed back to her working space, buttoning up his dark gray Henley.

He could see how she was looking at whatever info she saw in between the series of incoherent strings of letters, trying to wrap his head around what she was seeing at this moment when he got back.

“Felicity?” Sara beat him to the speaking first “what’s going on?” she sat down beside Felicity as he moved behind her chair.

“The hack into the Iron Heights’ server…” Felicity began to explain as she looked at them before her eyes moved back to the information on her screen only she could make sense of “you know, the one that led the police to QC? … It was actually done from inside the QC mainframe.”

Oliver moved closer to the screens over the back of her chair, trying to see what she saw, the look on his face only mirrored the questions on the others faces.

She huffed out at the look on their faces, trying to put it as simple as she could for the three of them “It means that whoever hacked Tockman’s medical records did it from inside QC, from an actual computer inside the company.

“At first I almost expected to find traces of a remote access from outside, but there was nothing. There was literally a person sitting in front of a computer inside that building - and if someone trusts the IP-address it was sent out from they will think that that desk was mine.” she suddenly stood up from her chair and moved away a few steps, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

Oliver looked at her in confusion, eyebrows furrowed “so, what you are saying is, that someone sat down behind your desk and used your computer to do that hack?”

Felicity only nodded as she looked back at him her features tense.

“But you weren’t even at work that day. It will be easy to prove that, right?” he took a step towards her, his hands itching to touch her, to reach out to her, to calm her down, reassure her, but one look over to Diggle held him back.

“Yeah, well.” Felicity let out a humorless chuckle “you know that and I do… but there is more - I watched the security footage from the prison that night. It’s glitched to say the least… Someone clearly did not want us to find out what was happening in that prison the night Tockman got murdered.” Felicity’s eyes wandered over the neatly assembled arrowheads while her fingers nervously tapped over the metallic surface of Oliver’s workplace as she continued.

“I am currently collecting CCTV footage from around the prison, but that will take some time and the security footage of the QC executive floor is stored on a separate secured server. I can login remotely, but I...”

Oliver could feel her hesitation as he took another step closer to her as he searched for the right words as he looked at her tense frame from behind.

He couldn’t help noticing how reversed their roles were right now and how many nights it would have been her, trying to calm him down after a mission gone wrong and how much better she was at that then him, because from where he stood he could tell what a crappy job he was doing right now.

He looked over to the two other persons in the room, looking for the right way of approach, not knowing what to do next while his body somehow seemed to have moved even closer to her chair. His body building a shield around her back

Diggle stepped in for him clearly also aware of her tense state “how about I drive the two of you home…”

“Dig’s right. Go home. Tomorrow’s another day...” Sara amended as she made herself comfortable in front of the monitors and started to run through the so far collected footage from outside the prison.

**************

The moment Diggle dropped both of them off in the garage of the penthouse building and the both of them stepped into the elevator Felicity’s already wildly running thoughts started to get the better of her.

It wasn’t the first time that both of them were alone together in the penthouse, but it was one of the first “normal” days they’d had after that unfortunate night a few weeks ago that made her move in there in the first place - with everything after that night and her abduction being a complete whirlwind of emotions, people worrying for her and unknown forces pulling strings.

It was, after all, the first time they had come home together, just the two of them after a day and night of work after… Well after the two of them had...

As if he exactly knew what was going on in her head he moved closer to her and pressed a gentle kiss on her cheek, linking his fingers with hers as the elevator made its way up to the 22nd floor. Her body relaxing instantly at the touch of his skin.

He didn’t let go of her hand as both of them stepped into the penthouse, leading her into the living area before he let go of her hand.

“How about you with start the - whatever you need to find the footage from that day.” Oliver suggested as he took of his jacket and placed it on the sofa.

He looked back at Felicity, who was just about to step out of her heels “in the meantime I will make us something to eat…” he smiled as he took a step closer to her, pressing a chaste kiss to her lips running his fingers over her cheek and down her neck.

His fingers stopped at the nape of her neck. He didn’t have to wait even a second before she took the other step and closed the gap between them. Her arms snaked around his waist, laying her head against his chest.

His fingers started to lightly massage her neck “you didn’t need to come here to start with the search, didn’t you?”

“No.” she confessed in a barely audible voice “I just wanted to get out of there… It just - when you all headed out on patrol, even with all of you connected over the intercom I just…” she sighed deeply.

Oliver moved his hands to her shoulders and pushed her body a few inches away so he could look at her. “Why didn’t you tell me? We can - I don’t know reinforce the doors? Proximity alarms?”

Felicity snorted at that “those will become extra handy on busy nights at the club. Free peep-shows from all around the dark alleys around the club. No thank you…”

Oliver chuckled leaning his forehead against hers “yeah, ok. Maybe not the best idea. I just want you to feel safe again.”

“It’ll be alright.” she said after a short moment “eventually.”

She gave him a peck on the cheek before she moved towards the stairs. “I’ll set-up the search and then maybe take a bath.”

“You do that. Dinner will be ready in an hour.” Oliver called after her.

**************

When she came back down 60 minutes later, after a relaxing bath, she noticed that Oliver had changed into more comfortable clothes as well. The room was filled with a delicious smell of freshly prepared food.

The table was already set, a big bowl of pasta standing in the middle between their two plates and he was about to pour both of them a glass of red wine.

The sight making her smile.

They spent the entire dinner with light conversation. Oliver told her about the early years of his childhood and how excited he had been to be a big brother.

“My mother, Raisa and I decorated her room only a few days before she was born.” he mused with a soft almost wistful smile on his face.

“I remember when my mom came home with her and I got to hold her for the first time. She was just this little bundle but she already had these knowing eyes and that smile on her face. She could make me do literally anything when she smiled at me and right back then I swore to myself that I would always protect her.”

Felicity couldn’t help but notice once more how different his demeanor was whenever he talked about or was around his sister.

“You are a great big brother, Oliver.” he took her compliment with a generous smile.

He also talked about Tommy and how their friendship started. How Tommy repeatedly got them out of trouble he normally had maneuvered them into.

“You did not!” Felicity snorted loudly in the middle of one particularly juicy story.

“I did.” Oliver reaffirmed.

“So you put.” she repeated his story, still a little disbelieving.

“Yup.”

“On the…”

“Yup” he nodded.

“And his …” Felicity motioned to her lower body regions “got stuck on the…”

“Yep.”

“And you took pictures of him standing there with his…?” she couldn’t even finish the sentence. Tears already in her eyes as she doubled up with laughter.

“He was a bully and he deserved it!” Oliver tried to reason in between laughing himself.

“He was a teacher! And you didn’t get busted…”

“Tommy found a few girl mathletes and made them vouch for us. Said that we were studying with them the whole afternoon.”

In return Felicity told him about her mother, of how hard she had worked in order to give her the education she needed, but also of how the little spare time they had in return affected their relationship.

“I’ve been practically raised in a Casino… I could count cards by the time I was 11.” her brows furrowed as she tried to remember the actual year “I made some good extra cash until my mom found out.” she crinkled her nose at the memory.

“How did she react?” Oliver asked in genuine curiosity.

“Well - let’s just say that I might have inherited my loud voice from her and the men that sat at that table with me that night tripled their tips over the next months. I remember it was the one year we could afford a vacation outside of town...” she remembered with a smile.

“I’d really like to meet her some time.” he looked at her, grinning at the image he had in his mind - a missing piece in the puzzle the gorgeous woman across the table still was for him.

“Be careful what you wish for, Oliver… It might come true” she teased.

“Why?”

Felicity searched for the right words but after a few seconds just shook her head “let’s just say that she can be a bit overwhelming at times.”

“Must run in the family then.” he teased back, making Felicity gasp in mock offense.

She told him, how early she had found her love for computers and technology in general and the role her father had played in that before he, from one day to another abandoned her and her mother without going into too much detail, not wanting to ruined the light mood Oliver had created for the both of them that evening and he didn’t press either.

Felicity made herself comfortable on the sofa as Oliver started to do the dishes, insisting on wanting to do on his own.

She leaned back, her head resting against the back of the sofa switching programs as her eyes caught sight of Oliver as he moved through the kitchen, taking care of the dirty dishes after the amazing pasta dish he had served them both for dinner. It was simple, she knew that. Only a few ingredients mixed together, but she couldn’t recall the last time she had tasted something as good as these pennes.

Oliver was still moving around the kitchen as if it was his normal habitat, wrapping up the leftovers for another time.

She couldn’t help noticing how at ease he looked in this moment and the domesticity of this moment both felt weird and strangely comforting to her and feel how she could definitely get use to this as she took another sip from her glass of the Shiraz he had opened for the both of them.

She was about to turn her head back to the TV and concentrate on the show that was currently running ( _what show was it again?_ ) when Oliver moved over to the dishwasher and the downlights underneath the kitchen cabinets perfectly showcased his very firm backside for her eyes, the thin fabric of the gray sweat pants he was wearing not doing anything to hide anything as he leaned down to put in the plates into the lower shelf.

She stood up and started to move as if she was under some sort of spell, her eyes still intent on Oliver as she made her way over to the kitchen counter.

Felicity licked her lips as she watched him, her thoughts drifting back to the previous night and how there hadn’t been time for her to appreciate his body enough last night.

He had taken over completely, making it all about her pleasure, but maybe now… She placed her now empty wine glass on the counter.

She moved up closer behind him as he was washing his hands after the final clean-up of the kitchen - fully aware that he already knew that she was standing right behind him she pressed her body up against his back, her arms banding around his waist. “What are you doing?” he turned his head around as her fingers started to trace the waistband of his sweats.

“Hmmm?” she moved her gaze up to to his face, watching him cock an amused eyebrow at her. She didn’t say anything. Instead she let one of her hands slide beneath the waistband, her fingertips lightly grazing over his hipbone realizing that Oliver obviously was going commando. That realization made her press her fingernails against his pubis.

Oliver hissed as she pressed herself even more firmly against his back as her other hand slipped beneath the hem of his shirt, fingers starting to roam over his torso, up towards his chest as the hand in his pants moved even lower.

Felicity could feel Oliver squirm below her touches.

“Felicity…” he breathed out as her fingers glided over his already half-hard cock.

Her thumb traced the seam to the tip, spreading the moisture of his precum over the head before the palm of her hand moved down over the underside of his now very hard dick to the base, her skin grazing his balls.

She tightened her grip around him and started to move along his heavy erection, pumping him slowly, twisting her wrist on every downward movement, her thumb gliding over his tip every time she reached his crown as he held tight with her other arm held-on tightly around his chest.

“Fuck!” Oliver exclaimed. Trying to hold on as much as possible, his hands grabbed hard into the marble surface as his head fell forwards while his mind tried to grasp at every single feeling Felicity was coaxing out of his body.

“Turn around.” Felicity breathed against his back, her hands letting go of their grip around him moving up his sides and pulled his shirt over his head, tossing it into the empty space behind her.

He didn’t question her command or think about it for a single second. His body moving on instinct, simply obliging her words.

Before he knew what was happening he could feel her lips and tongue wandering down over his naked skin while her fingernails lightly scratched down his ribcage until they stopped on the waistband of his pants, slowly pulling down the fabric along with her body as she lowered herself to the floor in front of him.

His breath hitched in the back of his throat at the sight in front of him at the way she looked up at him with that playful mischievous little smile curling her lips.

His hands moved down to cover hers “you don’t have to do this.” his voice raspy and thick with his arousal.

She cocked her head to the side “I know, but I really want to.” she licked her lips as her eyes travelled down his body again, back to where they had been fixed on in the first place. He let go of her hands.

He groaned as she dragged his waistband lower and the fabric of the waistband grazed the sensitive skin of the tip of his head. She let go of the fabric and let it fall to the floor, her hands moving over the skin of his thighs, her lips moving closer to where he was already hard because of her.

Oliver held his breath as he watched her moving towards him - slowly, oh so slowly. The anticipation nearly throwing him for a loop. He could feel her hot breath on his skin. “Unless you don’t want me too, of course.” she breathed out her hot breath brushing over him again, making his hard erection twitch.

“Felicity… please.” Oliver choked out as he closed his eyes, hands gripping at the marble beneath as he tried to steady himself against the counter.

She looked up to his face, watching as he closed his eyes in a mix of agony and pleasure. The sight only spiked her own arousal when she realized how much power she held over him and his body.

Felicity moved her hands up to his hipbones, her fingernails grating over his skin pressing his body against the counter as she leaned in closer.

She flattened her tongue and licked firmly across the side of his hard erection and over his head, savoring the salty taste before she enveloped him with her lips, her hand holding the base of his cock in a firm grip.

Oliver moaned loudly “God… yesss…” his whole body tensed under her touch, his knees almost giving in under her touch as her lips closed around him.

She travelled her lips down his shaft a few inches, taking him into the hot and wet confines of her mouth before she started to lightly suck him as she moved her lips back up, wrapping her tongue firmly around the underside of his cock until only his head was enveloped by her lips and the tip of her tongue caressed along his slit.  “Fuck!”

Her hand twisted a little as she started her downward movement again, starting a steady rhythm.

That was the moment her hand joined in and started to work him in a perfect tandem with her mouth, until he was only a panting mess trying hard to hold on.

“Aahhh… F-licity…” he gasped out on a particularly hard downward stroke of her hand. He was close… so, so close...

His thumbs brushed over her cheeks, gently pulling her away against every basic instinct in him that told him go give into the urge to come right there and then, in her mouth. Instead he grabbed her shoulders and lifted her up to her feet again.

He pulled her against him with one strong hand on her lower back as his other cupped her jaw, crashing his lips against hers in a messy and heated kiss.

Felicity’s hands grasped him by his hips, pressing her body even closer to his as they both just gave as good as the other. She could feel his hard dick rubbing against her belly through the fabric of her shirt as she gently bit down on his lower lip making him groan.

The hand on her back was quick to find its way under the hem of her shirt. His ran over her heated skin along her ribs, his fingertips ghosting over her breast as he moved his lips away from hers, trailing hot open mouthed kisses along her neck, biting down lightly on her pulse point in retaliation.

Oliver was about to move lover to her collarbone when Felicity suddenly pushed herself away from him.

He looked at her confused until he saw the smile on her lips “I just wanted to have a good look at you.” she gave him a quick wink and pulled off her own shirt giving him nice view of her perfect breasts.

Oliver was quick to toe out of his sweats before he closed the distance between them again, moving his lips in open mouthed kisses over the middle of her chest until he finally found one of her already hard nipples.

He sucked hard against her skin, pushing her hard nub against the roof of his mouth as his tongue laved over her skin, not even trying to be gentle with all the adrenaline coursing through his veins at that point.

His hands moving under the hem of her pants grabbing both butt cheeks with his hands in a tight grip, making his still hard erection rub over the bare stomach as her hips started to rotate against him.

Felicity moved against Oliver’s body, trying to get some desperately needed friction when she felt his hard dick moving over her lower abdomen.

As if he could read her mind he turned her around in his arms. One hand immediately finding its way between her legs, his middle finger stroking her just where she needed him to as his arm wrapped around her holding her tightly to his chest.

He ran his fingers over her heated skin his one hand caressing her breast as the other pressed her hips back against his, his middle finger stroking through her wetness from her center right back to her clit gently circling it.

“Oliver…” she gasped out, her hands clinging to his arms as he continued to stroke her with the calluses of his fingers.

He was quick to replace his middle finger with his thumb as he moved back down to her wet center again. He first thrust one then two fingers inside her as his thumb kept stroking her nub, holding her body against his as she started to tremble. “Oh my god… this feels… don’t stop!”

Oliver moved behind her, rubbing his hard erection over the seam of her still clothed ass while he continued to stroke her with his fingers.

He was only barely holding on himself when he could feel her walls around his fingers starting to flutter.

She moved one arm up around his neck as she tried to hold on for dear life as he drove his fingers into her. She turned her head to the side her hot breath fanning over his skin while her moans turned louder.

She dug her fingernails into his skin, her hips jerking back against him in uncontrolled movements, chasing her climax. He curled his fingers, rubbing tighter against her walls as he sped up his pace, feeling her hips rubbing against him. “Yesss… so good. Oliver, please… Need to…” the plea clear in her panted words.

He looked down over her body, watching where his hand was stroking her hot wet center, her hips moving, starting to lose any sense of rhythm over to the breast he wasn’t holding as it swayed with her body’s movements. The sight alone nearly made him come. “Felicity…” he whispered against her hear “come for me…”

Her body reacted instantly. She could feel the fire exploding deep inside her body as wave after wave of pure pleasure surrounded her body as she shouted out his name into the quiet space of the oversized down floor of the penthouse.

He could feel her walls clamping down on his fingers just as her whole body started to shake in his arms as her knees started to give out under her and they both stumbled forward towards the kitchen island.

Oliver held them both up with his arm, still holding her tightly against him while he himself tried to get back some of his bearings before her knees would hit the cold marble floor.

He cradled her body up in his arms mobilizing every inch of energy he felt in him and carried her over to the sofa. “Just let me stay here…” she mumbled against his chest.

“I am not going to drop you to the kitchen floor.” Oliver huffed out breathless chuckle as he walked them over to the sofa and gently laid her down almost collapsing on top of her.

He held himself up on his elbows to keep his weight off her as he captured her lips in a slow and gentle kiss, feeling her legs enveloping his hips and pushing him down against her body again.

Their moans swallowed by the other’s lips as his still very hard erection rubbed over her still very sensitive clit.

Felicity ran her hands over the back of his head, fingers curling around the nape of his neck as she pulled him closer looking at him as she rocked her body against his in a way that made both of them gasp.

She did it again, her gaze fixed on him, seeing her own need in his eyes. She grabbed him by his shoulders sitting up herself.

See pushed his shoulder back again “sit down…” she ordered him in a husky voice as she started to make her way over to him on her hands and knees never once taking her eyes off him as she crawled her way back onto his lap and cradled his hips between her legs.

Oliver reached out to her with one hand as soon as her legs straddled him, seeking out her lips once again. She instantly responded, opening to him as his tongue danced over her lips, her fingers running over his cheeks over his jaw and to his shoulders lifting herself up and deepened the kiss.  

He gently bit down on her lower lip as he felt her hips sinking down on him in one slow smooth motion. He looked at her as her face as he got nearly overwhelmed by the warm feeling she encompassed him with. He watched her closing her eyes, her face contort in pure ecstasy she sunk down lower on him and her lips parted in a low sigh.

He moved his lips away from hers, pressing soft kisses over her jaw to her ear down to her pulse point as his fingers dug into her hips, making him move even deeper inside of her, waiting for her to start to move, happy for her to set the rhythm for both of them, like he had the previous night.

He didn’t have to wait long before he could feel her lifting herself up a little, wrapping her arms around his neck as she slowly thrust down against him.

Her warm breath was fanning across his ear and he could hear her low moan when she repeated the movement her hips grinding against his on every downward stroke “this feels so good…”  her voice breathy and full of lust.

She kept that slow speed for several minutes both of them just savoring the feeling of closeness she gave him just as much as he gave her, letting the overwhelming feeling consume her as she locked her eyes with his.

Oliver let his hands travel over her gorgeous body, enjoying in the way her body reacted to his touch “god, you are beautiful.” unable to withhold his smile as he looked up to her.

He let his fingers glide over her shoulders down her arms and back up again before he moved to her back, the tips of his fingers dancing down her spine and over the curve of her ass.

Felicity sped up the pace in response, her hips driving into his more insistently, her head leaning down for another kiss. That was the moment he started to move his hips as well, thrusting back up in time with her movements his arm wrapping around her back to bring her body closer to his.

The fingers of his other hand combed through her hair at the back of her head as he deepened the kiss and swallowed the beautiful sounds she was making above him as he began to thrust up harder, Felicity mirroring his movements.

Felicity pulled back from his lips on a particularly hard thrust of his hips as he increased their rhythm.

“Fuck!” she cried out, pulling her body up into a sitting position again, her hands grabbing his shoulder looking for more purchase she raised herself up until only the tip of his cock was buried inside of her and let herself fall down again and again until she was practically bouncing in his lap.

Oliver let his body be guided by the sounds Felicity made. Her mewls and loud moans spurring him on as he drove his hips against hers harder and faster as she rode him and the tingling at the back of his spine started to ignite and slowly spread through his body.

He was close, so so close… He moved one hand down her body, his thumb instantly finding her tender nubbin. “Oh god, Felicity. I’m close!” he cried out, his finger rubbing tight and quick circles over her clit in an almost desperate attempt to make her come along with him.

Only seconds later Felicity’s hips started to jerk against his fingers and she started to lose all rhythm above him. He could feel her inner walls flutter around his dick, igniting that lingering spark in his body into a burning flame. “Oliver! Just a little, just…”

He clenched his jaw as he tried hard to concentrate on her, and just as he couldn’t hold on any longer Felicity exploded above him with one more flick of his thumb against her little hard nub.

She came with a loud shout of pure pleasure as he finally let go himself. He shot up into a sitting position with the power of his own release, groaning deeply against her skin, his mouth nipping and kissing softly over the soft and deliciously tasting skin underneath her collarbone while he enclosed her body with his strong arms.

Their hips kept meeting in shallow thrusts as they both rode out their orgasms until they slumped back against the cushions completely spent, holding each other close.

“Mmhhh - ‘twas nice…” she mumbled into the crook of his neck, her deep breaths blowing warm air against his skin.

He couldn’t remember how he had moved their bodies into a more comfortable position on the sofa or how much time had passed as they were just lying there, their slick bodies still pressed together, just breathing together and enjoying the warm feeling that surrounded them.

Oliver chuckled against her ear “nice huh…” he combed his fingers gently through her silky curls. He pressed a firm kiss on the crown of her head.

He could feel her body relaxing in his arms even more. There wouldn’t be an answer from her any time soon and instead of getting up from the sofa and carrying her to bed he just grabbed the blanket from the head rest and covered their bodies before he drifted off to sleep himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what did you think? Let me know and leave a little feedback (and Kudos of course…)  
> Also you can find me on Twitter @NoDecaff4Me. Come say hi! I’d love to hear from you.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi Guys!  
> I know. It took me faaaaar too long to update this story, BUT IT'S BACK! :) and I hope you'll enjoy the read.
> 
> Also I would like to give a huge shout out to my Beta Becky! She is a tremendous help and I am so happy I found her! <3

 

**_March **31** **, 2014**  
(Part 1)_ **

 

**_“Felicity Smoak - from Victim to Murderer(?)”_ **

**_“Was the new Queen Girl ever really a victim?”_ **

**_“Murder of William Tockman traced back to Queen Consolidated”_ **

 

Starling City, 3:30 pm, Press Room Queen Consolidated

Oliver took a deep breath in an attempt to clear his head.

He took the first step towards the podium, trying hard to remember the words he was about to say to the crowd of reporters that were already waiting impatiently for an explanation of the news that had somehow slipped to the outside world from within his company hours before.

“Thank you all for coming.” he started as he stepped up behind the microphone “this isn’t easy for me to say. As several reports from earlier weeks already implied my relationship Miss Smoak went beyond professional levels. I considered her a friend.”

_“I could really get used to this.” Felicity whispered in his ear in between the feather light kisses she trailed over his jaw and down his throat. She shifted in his arms as he pulled her closer to his side, enjoying the feeling of having her warm and naked body pressed against his in the morning, basking in the still very vivid memories of their lovemaking a few hours ago. “Me too.” he cocked his head to the side in search of her lips and humming contently once he found them. “I want this.” another kiss “with you.” another kiss “us.”_

He paused to take another deep breath, looking down at the script he was handed minutes before, showing him syllable for syllable what he had to say to the waiting audience. “... but, in light of the latest results of this still ongoing examination I have no other choice than to distance myself and my company from her.

“Miss Smoak has been released effective immediately from her position as my Executive Assistant. Clearly, I didn’t know Miss Smoak as good as I thought I did.” he looked up into the crowd as he continued.

“By now, all I can confirm is that the news of evidence of the murder of Miss Smoak’s alleged captor leads back to Queen Consolidated are true. I can also confirm that our own IT-specialists are working closely together with the SCPD in order to resolve this case. Miss Rochev will now answer questions as far as the ongoing investigations allow it.”

With that Oliver turned around and walked away from the crowd and away from all the questions he didn’t want to witness getting answered. He had questions of his own he needed answers to and he already felt like he was two steps behind on the situation.

 

Starling City, 8:03 am, Penthouse

Felicity was running late, even though she had been wide awake since 5 am, when she woke up to a nightmare and a cold side of the bed, where - the nights before - Oliver had laid beside her.

Only he wasn’t there so there was no point in her trying to fall back asleep again.

Instead she might as well make good use of the spare hours and run more searches. After all there were a few more hunches she wanted to follow, but not without sufficient dose of caffeine that was waiting for her downstairs.

Felicity groaned as she got out of bed, the cold air in the room making her shiver. She grabbed one of Oliver’s hoodies and made her way to the kitchen with her tablet in hand and her head full of questions she still couldn’t get answers to. The IP searches so far had brought up nothing.

After all she hadn’t gotten that much done in the last few days. At least not as much she had wanted to and all the dead ends had slowly started to get to her.

Maybe she was just looking in the wrong direction. She had been so focused on Tockman. But what if he was just a piece in the whole puzzle? And if that was the case, maybe she should just start where the carefully planted breadcrumbs had lead them; at Queen Consolidated. So she download every possible incoming and outgoing voice and data traffic and started to cross-reference it in the hope of confirming at least one of her suspicions.

She had been so engrossed in her work she almost didn’t hear the alarm going off on her phone. Looking at it she noticed it wasn’t the first or the second. It was the third one, which meant she was running late if she wanted to be ready the time John was there to pick her up.

Felicity was just about to apply her makeup while she took a closer look at the info she’d gathered so far when she heard the elevator bing downstairs.

“Dig! You’re 30 minutes early! I need a few more…” Felicity walked down the stairs to greet him before she would put the finishing touches on her makeup and got dressed, but the sight that greeted her downstairs almost made her trip and all down the last few steps.

"Oh, Mrs Queen, I... I didn't expect you - ummm, Oliver isn't here. He's in Coast City the next three days." Felicity said, fumbling nervously on the hem and collar of her shirt - well Oliver's shirt. And, judging by the disdainful look on Moira Queen’s face, knew exactly who that shirt belonged to.

"I am well aware of my son's whereabouts, thank you, Miss Smoak. I wanted to talk to you. Now, let me make this brief for both our sakes. I do not know what your intentions towards my son are or what you two are.

“Frankly, I don't care but I won’t allow this charade to go any further than this. I would like you to leave my family's premises within the hour. These two gentlemen will accompany you out when you are finished packing. Have I made myself clear?" Not waiting for an answer she turned on her heels and the elevator door closed shut.

The two so called 'gentlemen' positioned themselves in front of the elevator and even if they didn't speak to her one word, she knew that there was no way out of this penthouse without her belongings. So Felicity did the only thing she could do. Pack. She threw on a pair of washed out jeans and carefully pulled on a wide purple cardigan that wouldn't irritate the stitches.

The second she came back downstairs with her purse and two of her packed bags both men moved in her direction.

"I... wait! I still have stuff in the room that I cannot carry down. Some help maybe?" but obviously the two giant gorillas didn't mind her protest shoving her into the elevator, one taking her two packed bags and the other one grabbing her at her right shoulder, not even flinching as she screamed out in pain.

As the elevator came to a halt in the parking garage they dragged her out and pushed her further away from the doors. "Key card, Miss Smoak." was the only and last words she heard one of them saying as he ripped it from her hands and let her to herself.

She was still a little shell-shocked, her eyes glued to the now closed elevator door when low beep of her phone announced an incoming message and her hand automatically pulled it from inside her purse.

Her eyes went wide as the flew over the display, her other hand the only thing to stifle a horrified shriek that escaped from her lips.

“Time to play.”

Not knowing what else to do she smashed her phone on the ground and picked up the SIM card when she saw movement in the corner of her eyes.

That was when Felicity started to run, knowing she had to get out of that place as fast as she could.

 

Coast City, 9:13 am, Offices of Ferris Aircraft, Inc.

He need to get out of that conference room. The same thought kept repeating itself over and over in Oliver’s head.

The agitation started the minute he had gotten up that morning. Which meant he had started pacing his hotel room at 5 in the morning until it had been time to get dressed and put on is mask of the handsome yet somewhat clueless businessman he had designed for himself in the days after his second return from the island.

He had considered multiple times calling Felicity so see if everything was ok with her. His thumb had flirted with the call button on the phone more than once, but he had restrained himself as he told himself over and over again that she was save where she was, with both Diggle and Sara there within minutes if something was wrong.

He already knew that something was horribly wrong even before he saw the COO’s assistant of Ferris Air step into the overly large meeting room he’d currently been sitting together with four board representatives and the COO of Ferris and Isabel since the last three hours. Her eyes intent on him when she announced that there was a private call waiting for him, but his pulse spiked nonetheless when he heard her say “a Mister Lawton wants to talk to you, Mister Queen.”

The mention of that name had Oliver out of his chair before the assistant could even finish her sentence.

He shouldn’t have gone on this trip. He thought for the thousandth time since he had left Starling City the night before. He cursed under his breath while he followed the woman into a smaller meeting room down the hall, not even caring to give the other meeting attendees a single word of excuse as he could feel the adrenaline spreading through his entire body and the blood rushing through his veins.

_“She’s gone, Oliver.”_

The words still rang through his ears as he climbed the stairs of the private jet waiting for him outside on the airfield of Ferris barely 5 minutes later as a high pitched voice pulled him back into the moment.

“And where do you think you are going, Oliver?”

He took a deep breath, trying to calm down his nerves. “There’s an emergency…”

“Well, I know that.” she pointed out in an angry hiss as she passed by him on the steps and entered the plain in front of him “or do you think that nobody would call me after the results the SCPD and our team came up with?”

“So, what are our next steps?” Oliver asked in the most nonchalant way he could muster at that moment as he turned to her and took a seat across from hers. He tried not to show the anxiety that was slowly winding its way up his spine, knowing full well that all of this couldn’t be a coincidence. They had found the bread crumbs and followed the trail and there was nothing he could do without knowing where that trail had started and where it led.

Closing his eyes, he could still feel her body pressed to his and the sensation of her soft lips peppering light kisses over his heart that woke him up. He could still hear her voice after he had told her over breakfast that he wanted to postpone the investors meeting.

_“Don’t be ridiculous! The co-operation with Ferris could highly benefit QC in the future, no arguing. It’ll be fine… Plus - I would really, really hate it if all those hours I spent on the phone with Carl Ferris and his Chief of Engineering were wasted. They're our kind of people, Oliver. QC could really use their support in moving forward with the ‘Green-Gen’-Project.”_

He should have known better. He should have listened to his gut, but Felicity fiercely insisted and just plain outplayed him with her logic that he finally had relented.

“Are you even listening to me, Oliver?”

No he wasn’t - he had stopped listening to her - well, he never really listened or let alone let her get any closer to him than was absolutely necessary. Except for that one fateful night in Moscow a few months ago. He still remembered the way Felicity looked at him when he opened the door to his hotel room. The disappointment displayed on her features stung to the bones and in that moment he had wanted so badly to tell her how he felt for her.

And then he did, a day later. Only he had done that in the most terrible way possible by telling her he could never be with her. It seemed like such a long time ago with how much had changed between the two of them that the mere thought that maybe he wouldn’t be getting a second chance to tell her how he really felt about her threatened to take his breath away.

 

Starling City, 10:34 am, the streets of downtown Starling City

Felicity had a difficult time breathing as tried to navigate through rush hour in downtown Starling while heavy rain hammered on the rooftop and windshield of her Mini. Her mind was racing as it went through every detail of the last few days, trying to catch the one moment, that minor yet important detail she must have missed in the middle of all the chaos the past days had been. But there was nothing.

NOTHING!

With every minute and every meter she put more distance between herself and the penthouse, the confusion and anxiety she had felt more and more made room for anger and frustration. Everything that was happening was connected somehow, and that included Moira Queen’s sudden appearance in the loft that morning Oliver wasn’t there.

She was sure of that. She just didn’t know how.

The last chords of the song currently playing on the radio got cut short when an annoying female voice pierced through her thoughts.

_“We have just received some interesting news that the SCPD finally has a lead in the mysterious death of William Tockman, who had died only shortly after his admission to Iron Heights after the abduction of Felicity Smoak - the executive assistant and rumored girlfriend of none other than Oliver Queen two weeks ago…”_

“Motherfracking…!” Felicity pulled a hard right turn and pulled away from the traffic into a small sideway and pulled over to the sidewalk as the radio speaker continued.

_“The investigations seem to have taken a shocking turn as the police now is opening investigations on the victim herself.”_

Her hands hit hard on the leather of her steering wheel as angry tears started to fall down her cheeks and the frustration took over. She needed time to think and she needed a place to do that! But she seemed to have run out of both.

There was only one place Felicity could think of that maybe would give her both as her mind had started to go into overdrive and she could only hope the person wouldn’t mind. After all she wasn’t supposed to know about that place and without any possible way to reach out she could only wish that someone was there. And that they would take her in as she pulled her car around again and headed into the darkest corner of the Glades without knowing what to expect next.

 

Starling City, 1:35 pm, Penthouse

Oliver honestly didn’t know what he had expected once he set foot into the penthouse, already knowing Felicity wasn’t there. If there had been a last tiny bit of hope inside him left, it was ripped out the moment Dig and him stumbled over the shattered remains of her phone right in front of the elevator doors in the garage.

But somehow the silence that still hit him when the elevator doors opened was almost deafening. The last few days had been filled with life and laughter, all because of her.

His hand clamped down on the sharp pieces of plastic as he walked into the living room. His eyes began roaming over the room and immediately catching sight of the two wine glasses that still stood on the table in front of the sofa where they had left them the night before he left for Coast City.

“We’re going to find her, Oliver.” Dig’s hand landed on his shoulder as he moved passed him and walked towards the kitchen “I’ll take a look around here.”

Oliver hurried upstairs.

He stepped into the guest bedroom she still had all of her stuff stored. Only half of her clothes were gone. The rest laid discarded on the floor at the foot of the bed. The boxes with her technical equipment she had fiercely insisted on taking with her were emptied, the content littered all over the bed.

That wasn’t her doing. In fact, if Felicity knew she’d be out for blood. Oliver was certain.

She hadn’t left on her own will. Someone had made her.

“Damn it!”

He strode over to his bedroom - their bedroom.

It looked like she’d just left a few minutes ago. One of his hoodies was draped over the foot end of the bed beside a dress she had obviously picked out for the day but never got to wear. Her make-up set was placed on her nightstand and three pairs of shoes were neatly placed in a row beside the bed.

His eyes kept looking for the tiniest clue, a hint she might have left as he moved around the room. There were no signs of a fight or any kind of struggle, which would’ve calmed his nerves if he could only get any idea of what had happened. Instead his confusion only grew by the second.

He could still smell the lingering scent of her delicate perfume in the air - a light mixture lilac and magnolia with just a hint of vanilla. He inhaled deeply in an attempt to keep the memories of her in this room close to him as he closed his eyes.

He could see her standing there in front of him that first night they had spent together after he had screwed up so epically only hours before and she had stormed into his room. Or that last morning before he had to leave for Coast City when she had emerged from the bathroom, dressed only in one of his dress shirts and looking so effortlessly beautiful he could feel his knees getting weak.

Oliver took a shaky breath and opened his eyes again, taking a close look around the room once again from a different angle as something suddenly caught his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what did you think? Let me know and leave a little feedback (and Kudos if you wish of course…)
> 
> Also you can find me on Twitter @NoDecaff4Me. Come say hi! Drop me a note - I’d love to hear from you.


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